Atomic implantation synthesis of Fe-Cu/SBA-15 nanocomposite as a heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst for enhanced degradation of DDT

Fe and Cu containing SBA-15 composites (Fe-Cu/SBA-15) were successfully prepared by atomic implantation method. The samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, FTIR, BET, EDX and XPS. From these results, it reveals the existence of the both (Fe2+ and Cu2+) metals ions in the SBA-15 framework. A series of Fex-Cuy/SBA-15 composites with different Fe content degradation of 4,4-Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane (DDT) under the simulated sun-light irradiation using H2O2 as an oxidant agent. This clearly indicated that Cu+ reduce Fe3+ to Fe2+ and consequently, enhancing the catalytic activity. Effects of pH, H2O2 concentration and catalyst dosage were investigated. The best conditions were found to be pH of 5; 3 mM of H2O2 concentration, 0, 4 g L−1 catalyst and reaction time of 4 h at room temperature. The novel Fe-Cu/SBA-15 composite exhibited highly photocatalytic performance of DDT degradation and the conversion reached to the value of 92.3% for the 10Fe-2Cu/SBA-15 composite after 4 h of reaction.