Enhanced Photo-Fenton Activity Using Magnetic Cu0.5Mn0.5Fe2O4 Nanoparticles as a Recoverable Catalyst for Degrading Organic Contaminants

Interest in using various nanoparticle catalysts to activate H2O2 with light for organic contaminant and wastewater treatment is steadily increasing. We successfully synthesized magnetically recoverable Cu0.5Mn0.5Fe2O4 nanoparticles a simple co-precipitation method followed by melamine-assisted calcination. Material characterization revealed that melamine acted as coordinating agent during the calcination process promoted ferrite structure. Copper (Cu)-substitution effectively decreased material aggregation catalytic activities. showed outstanding performance on several contaminants (87.6–100.0% removal within 2 h). Using oxytetracycline (OTC) surrogate constituent, we found hydroxyl radical (•OH) superoxide anions (•O2−) were active species involved OTC degradation. exhibited excellent photo-Fenton ability real demonstrated high stability, even after four consecutive uses (i.e., fourth cycle). In pilot-scale experiment (10 L), provide proof our rigorous system was able remove remnant OTC, TOC, also any available colloidal particles only 1 NTU. Ecotoxicity studies an aquatic plant (Hydrilla verticillata) zooplankton treated water could be reused ratios. Furthermore, at 5% of water, rapid leaf recovery significant increase rotifer numbers reported. These observations support use Cu0.5Mn0.5Fe2O4/H2O2/light efficient environmentally friendly contaminants, generating mechanism proposed.