Magnetic nanoparticles supported bimetallic Co-Cu as a catalyst for reductive degradation of hazardous organic compounds in water

Abstract

Herein, silica-core shell magnetic nanoparticles were functionalized with imidazolium-based ionic liquid and 3-amino-1,2-propanediol, and the resulting hydrophilic media was used to stabilize bimetallic CoCu species. The structure of this new composite, Fe3O4@ILD-CoCu, was identified and analyzed by various techniques including TEM, XRD, XPS, VSM, FT-IR, EDX, and SEM Mapping. In the following, its catalytic performance was investigated in the reduction of nitrophenol compounds including 4-nitrophenol (4-NP), 3-nitrophenol (3-NP), and 2-nitrophenol (2-NP), decolorization of organic dyes such as methyl orange (MO), methyl red (MR), and rhodamine B (Rh B) and degradation of tetracycline and the results showed that the mentioned compounds participated properly in the reduction and degradation reactions. The research results showed that bimetallic cobalt-copper catalyst performs much better than monometallic cobalt and copper catalysts. The recyclability of the desired magnetic catalyst was also investigated and showed 14 runs of recyclability without a significant reduction in catalytic activity.The authors are grateful to Institute for Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences (IASBS) Research Council and University of Alicante. This work is based upon research funded by Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) under the project no. 4024819. We also thankful for financial support to the Iran National Science Foundation (INSF-Grant number of 4024819), Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (RED2018-102387-T, PID2019-107268GB-100), and FEDER, the Generalitat Valenciana (IDIFEDER/2021/013)