Herein, we describe synthesis of cobalt, copper, zinc, titanium and nickel ferrites for decomposing water contaminants of emerging concern. The ferrites were synthesized by a combustion method using polyvinyl alcohol. Synthesized catalysts attained a magnetic property to be collected from reactors by applying a magnetic field for farther reuse. The phase of synthesized ferrites was confirmed using X-ray diffraction and crystalline size of the ferrites was determined using particle size analyzer. The synthesized ferrites were used to decompose different contaminants such as atrazine and phenyl benzimidazole sulfonic acid (PBSA). The BET surface area increased from 9 to 24 m2/g with increasing iron content for CuFe2O4 samples.  CoFe2O4 had the highest surface area (42 m2/g).  The SEM images indicated that Cu ferrites had flake kind of structures, whereas the CoFe2O4 ferrites had distinctive surface morphology with very small spherical nanoparticles arrayed on a large flake kind of structures. The HR-TEM images showed that the synthesized particles were in the range of nanoscale. To investigate catalytic activity of synthesized ferrites, the degradation of tetracyclines, progesterone, and octylphenol are studied. The detailed results on the characterization and degradation of such contaminants will be presented.

Synthesis of innovative ferrite-based recyclable catalyst to degrade water contaminants of emerging concern

248th National Meeting (2014)

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