A high performance bimetallic catalyst for photo-Fenton oxidation of Orange II over a wide pH range

A bimetallic catalyst supported on MCM-41 was synthesized by chemical vapour deposition and evaluated in the photo-Fenton degradation of Orange II. An in situ oxidation method recently developed in our group was applied to stabilize the metal catalyst supported on MCM-41, achieving an extremely low metal leaching level. This FeCu/MCM-41 shows TOC removals of 93\%, 83\%, and 78\% at pHs of 3, 5.5, and 7, respectively, and maintains its high catalytic activity after 10 consecutive runs. This catalyst successfully overcomes the two problems faced by the heterogeneous photo-Fenton process - metal leaching and narrow working pH range. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved