Construction of copper-cobalt bimetallic nanoparticles in the confined space of mesoporous silica KIT-6 support for the catalytic removal of organic contaminants

Abstract

Toxic organic pollutants are significant and critical concerns in environmental and ecological processes. Consequently, the environmental remediation of such toxic organic contaminants is a significant concern. We present the fabrication of the highly stable and efficient catalyst for the aqueous phase catalytic reduction of organic pollutants utilizing CuCo bimetallic nanoparticles immobilized amine-functionalized mesoporous KIT-6 support (CuCo@KIT-6). The formation of CuCo bimetallic NPs into the KIT-6 support was shown by HR-TEM image with the particle size of 1.60 ± 0.46 nm. CuCo@KIT-6 catalyst exhibited superior reactivity for 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) reduction within 12 min than the monometallic counterparts. The rate constant (kapp) of CuCo@KIT-6 (0.3938 min−1) was higher than the mono-metallic catalysts (Cu@KIT-6 (0.1438 min−1) and Co@KIT-6 (0.0052 min−1)). CuCo@KIT-6 demonstrated good catalytic behaviors for the degradation of multiple pollutants including 2-nitrophenol (2-NP) (0.5395 min−1), 3-nitrophenol (3-NP) (0.8262 min−1), 2-nitroaniline (2-NA) (1.5051 min−1), 4-nitroaniline (4-NA) (0.7740 min−1), 4-(4-nitrophenyl)morpholine (4-NM) (0.6243 min−1), 2,4-dinitrophenol (2,4-DNP) (0.3297 min−1), 4-(2-fluoro-4-nitrophenyl) morpholine (4-FNM) (0.7411 min−1), rhodamine b (RhB) (1.7550 min−1), congo red (CR) (0.1900 min−1), methyl orange (MO) (1.3077 min−1), and eosin Y (EY) (0.5071 min−1). The CuCo@KIT-6 catalyst showed high efficiency for the simultaneous degradation of contaminants (4-NP + RhB + CR + MO + EY) in the complex environment. In addition, CuCo@KIT-6 catalyst demonstrated excellent stability with promising reusability. Thus, the CuCo@KIT-6 catalyst holds great promise for industrial wastewater treatment.