Green synthesis of sodalite-derived hybrid as iron redox mediator for excellent photo-fenton like reaction

Abstract

The sluggish kinetics of Fe(II) regeneration and inactive Fe(III) sludge accumulation strongly hampers the scientific progress of Fenton-related reactions toward practical application. Herein, we developed a durable zero-valent iron super dispersed sodalite-graphene oxide hybrid (Z@GO-SOD) via reactive oxidation species (ROSs) route using industrial waste lithium silicon fume (LSF) as raw material, and first applied it as a visible-light-driven photocatalyst to initiate Fenton-like reaction for effective ciprofloxacin (CIP) remediation. The Z@GO-SOD featured a mesoporous structure with iron strongly interaction with GO hybrid zeolite, the GO hybrid zeolite acted as an efficient mediator, facilitating charge separation and transportation to expedite the iron redox cycle. The presence of persulfate could further act as an electron acceptor to boost photogenerated e−/h+ separation, resulting in more [rad]OH for fast CIP removal. Over 90 % of CIP was removed within 30 min in the Z@GO-SOD/Vis/PS system with the usage of merely 0.4 g/L catalyst, and as high as 71% CIP was completely mineralized, which outperformed most of the state-of-the-art photo-Fenton catalysts. Meanwhile, Z@GO-SOD also demonstrated excellent reusability and stability. This work indicated the feasibility of utilizing solar energy for both preparation of catalyst and remediation of wastewater, paying the way for a sustainable solution for environmental solid waste pollution and water scarcity issue.