Synthesis and characterization of Acacia gum-Fe0Np-silica nanocomposite: an efficient Fenton-like catalyst for the degradation of Remazol Brilliant Violet dye

Acacia gum-(FeNp)-Np-0-silica nanocomposite (GFS(1))()) has been crafted through sol-gel technique using a two-step process that involved the reduction of iron salt to zerovalent iron nanoparticles (Fe(0)Nps) followed by their impregnation within Acacia gum-silica matrix. GFS(1) was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques. GFS(1) is decorated with -Fe(0)Nps of similar to 5 nm average size. The VSM study revealed that GFS(1) has ferromagnetic nature. GFS(1) was used as a heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst for the degradation of azo dyes using Remazol Brilliant Violet (RBV) dye as a model dye. In first 5 min of operation, >86% dye degradation was achieved and 94% dye (from 100 mg L-1 dye solution) was successfully degraded in 50 min. The dye degradation followed pseudo-first-order kinetics. The GFS(1) performed efficiently well over the wide range of dye concentrations (25-200 mg L-1). The catalyst was reused for eight repeated cycles where 12.5% dye degradation was possible even in the eighth cycle. The catalyst behaved fairly well for the degradation of Metanil Yellow (MY) and Orange G (OG) dyes also. Under the optimum conditions of RBV dye degradation, Metanil Yellow (MY) and Orange G (OG) dyes were degraded to the extent of 97 and 26.3%, respectively.