Lanthanum cobaltite perovskite supported on zirconia as an efficient heterogeneous catalyst for activating Oxone in water

Zirconia-supported LaCoO3 perovskite (LaCoO3/ZrO2 (LCZ)) is prepared and adopted for the first time as a heterogeneous catalyst for activating Oxone to degrade organic pollutants. The resulting LCZ exhibits a significantly higher surface area (Le., 10 times) than bulk LaCoO3 powder as nanoscale LaCoO3 particles were easily afforded on the surface of ZrO2 support. As Rhodamine B (RB) decolorization is selected as a model test to evaluate catalytic activity for activating Oxone, LCZ showed a much higher catalytic activity to activate Oxone than LaCoO3 even though LCZ contained only 12.5 wt% of LaCoO3. LCZ-activated Oxone also remained effective for RB decolorization even in the presence of salts and other organic contaminant. The mechanism of RB decolorization by LCZ-activated Oxone was revealed and involved sulfate radical and other reactive oxygen species. The mechanism of Oxone activation by LCZ could be owing to both La3+ and Co3+ of LCZ. LCZ was recycled to activate Oxone for RB decolorization over multiple times without loss of catalytic activity. These results demonstrate that LCZ is a promising LaCoO3-based nanocomposite as a heterogeneous catalyst for activating Oxone to degrade organic pollutants. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.