Bimetallic iron-copper oxide nanoparticles supported on nanometric diamond as efficient and stable sunlight-assisted Fenton photocatalyst

Bimetallic iron and copper oxide nanoparticles (NPs) supported on hydroxylated diamond (D3) exhibits an improved activity for the heterogeneous Fenton phenol degradation under natural or simulated sunlight irradiation with respect to analogous monometallic samples or than analogous FeCu NPs on graphite, activated carbon and P25 TiO2 semiconductor. FeCu/D3 catalyst exhibits good recyclability and stability especially working at pH 6. Overall, the high activity of the Fe20Cu80(0.2 wt%)/D3 catalyst is mainly due to the combination of the high activity of reduced copper species decomposing H2O2 to HO· radical, while Fe2+ allows the regeneration of these reduced copper species.