Synthesis of an inorganic-framework molecularly imprinted Fe-doped TiO2 composite and its selective photo-Fenton-like degradation of acid orange II

BACKGROUND: The heterogeneous photo-Fenton-like process is emerging as a promising treatment of dye-containingwastewater because of its economic feasibility and high efficiency. However, it is still required to develop photo-Fenton-like catalysts with highly selective degradation ability and reusability. RESULTS: Inorganic-framework molecularly imprinted Fe-doped TiO2 composites (MIP/Fe-TiO2) were successfully prepared by the sol-gel method, with acid orange II as the template and TiO2 as the matrix material. The photo-Fenton-like catalysts were characterized using FESEM, EDS, BET, X-ray diffraction, FT-IR spectroscopy and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. These methods revealed the well-crystallized anatase phase and good nanometer-level particle sizes. The adsorption property and photo-Fenton-like activity of the catalysts were also studied in single and binary systems, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with non-imprinted Fe-TiO2 composites (NIP/Fe-TiO2), MIP/Fe-TiO2 showed higher adsorption capacity and selectivity toward the template molecule. In addition, it was found that the molecular recognition ability of MIP/Fe-TiO2 provided the catalysts with rapidly selective photo-Fenton-like degradation of low target pollutant levels (20 mg L-1) in the presence of high levels of interferential pollutant sodium dodecyl benzene sulfonate (100 mg L-1). Moreover, because of the stable physicochemical properties of the inorganic framework, the new photo-Fenton-like catalysts were resistant to photochemical attack and showed favorable reusability. (c) 2017 Society of Chemical Industry