Nanoscale-confined precursor of CuFe2O4 mediated by hyperbranched polyamide as an unusual heterogeneous Fenton catalyst for efficient dye degradation

Dye effluent causes a serious problem to the environment and is of a great concern worldwide. CuFe2O4-based heterogeneous Fenton oxidation is considered as a promising approach for efficient dye effluent treatment. However, the high-temperature calcination of CuFe2O4 makes this technique less applicability. In this study, nanoscale-confined precursor of CuFe2O4 (NCFOH) was fabricated via a facile coprecipitation method with the confinement of hyperbranched polyamide (MHP) and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and BET measurement. Its catalytic performance for dye degradation was also tested. Despite of its amorphous structure, NCFOH possesses a much stronger catalytic performance than the precursor of CuFe2O4 (CFOH) and calcined CuFe2O4 (CFO) without the mediation of MHP. In addition, NCFOH even shows a similarly catalytic ability with the corresponding calcination (NCFO). The results reveal that particle size and specific surface area may play more important roles than crystalline structure in the catalytic performance. Furthermore, the cycling experiments suggest the high stability and applicability of NCFOH as a reusable catalyst for dye effluent treatment. This work demonstrates that the NCFOH has a potential of widespread commercialization as an excellent heterogeneous Fenton catalyst, and also provides deeper insights into the novel nanoscaleconfined approach for fabricating low-cost and efficient catalysts. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.