AnchoredIron Ligands as an Efficient Fenton-Like Catalyst for Removal of DyePollutants at Neutral pH.

Thedevelopment of a pH-tolerant Fenton-like catalyst is an activeand challenging research front in the area of environmental engineering.In the present work, a novel catalyst iron−γ-aminopyridineligand (FeAPy) was prepared and immobilized on activated carbon fibers (ACFs) by a covalent bond to obtain a heterogeneous FeAPy-ACFs. FeAPy-ACFspresent a pH-tolerant microenvironment for the Fenton-like oxidationprocess, which exhibits remarkable catalytic ability across a widepH range from acidic to alkaline. At neutral pH, employing hydrogenperoxide as an oxidant, the FeAPy-ACFs showed enhanced catalytic abilityto degrade hazardous environmental pollutants Acid Red 1 (AR1) dyesand avoid secondary pollution with regard to FeAPy. FeAPy-ACFs arestable and remain efficient in repetitive test cycles with no obviousdecrease of catalytic activity. Moreover, in comparison to most reportedsupports for Fenton-like catalyst, the introduction of ACFs contributedspecifically to the activity improvement of FeAPy. Probe studies combinedwith electron paramagnetic resonance experiments were conducted toascertain the role of several reactive species (•OH, HO2•, and FeIVO) on dye decolorization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]