A novel quasi-cubic CuFe2O4–Fe2O3 catalyst prepared at low temperature for enhanced oxidation of bisphenol A via peroxymonosulfate activation

A facile eco-friendly co-precipitation synthesis at low temperature was employed to fabricate CuFe2O4–Fe2O3 for the oxidation of bisphenol A (BPA) via peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation. The formation mechanism of CuFe2O4–Fe2O3 at low temperature is proposed. The FESEM and BET characterization studies revealed that the CuFe2O4–Fe2O3 catalyst has a quasi-cubic morphology and specific surface area of 63 m2 g−1. The performance of CuFe2O4–Fe2O3 as a PMS activator was compared with those of other catalysts and the results indicated that the performance was in the following order: CuFe2O4–Fe2O3 > CuFe2O4 > CoFe2O4 > CuBi2O4 > CuAl2O4 > Fe2O3 > MnFe2O4. A kinetic model with mechanistic consideration of the influence of pH, PMS dosage and catalyst loading was developed to model the degradation of BPA. The intrinsic rate constant (ki) was obtained from the kinetic study. The relationship between the pseudo first-order rate constant and ki was established. The trend of ki revealed that increasing the catalyst loading decreased the BPA removal rate due to the initial preferential production of the weaker radical (i.e. SO5˙−) for BPA degradation and Fe2+ quenching of SO4˙− at higher catalyst loading. The influence of water matrix species (i.e. Cl−, NO3−, HCO3−, PO43− and humic acid) on the BPA degradation rate was also investigated. The CuFe2O4–Fe2O3 catalyst exhibited excellent stability and can be reused several times without significant deterioration in performance.Accepted versio