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Preparation of manganese oxide-porous carbon nanocomposites by self-activation and their enhanced performance for methylene blue degradation

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Abstract

Manganese oxides and their composites are promising catalysts for the Fenton-like reaction, which generates hydroxyl radical to eliminate the ever-growing organic pollutants in water. Here, a new solution synthesis approach combined with the self-activation carbonization process has been developed to prepare the MnOx-porous carbon nanocomposites (MnOx-C(SiO2)). First, Mn ions are easily incorporated into resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) resin with the help of polyacrylic acid (PAA) and then transformed into MnOx particles during carbonization. When the Mn-RF sphere is coated in a silica shell in advance, the pyrolysis process can endow the product with a high BET surface area of 962.8 m2 g−1, much larger than that of the counterpart prepared without SiO2 coating (MnOx-C). In the meantime, the SiO2 shell also prevents the in situ formed MnOx particles from getting larger, making them well dispersed in the porous carbon. The size of MnOx particles in MnOx-C(SiO2) is only 5 nm, which shows superior catalytic performance toward methylene blue (MB) degradation via the Fenton process. The MB degradation rate is close to 100% and remains 98.9% after five cycles.

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Funding

The research was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51502241, 51872225, and 51672211) and the Doctoral Innovation Fund of Xi’an University of Technology (Nos. 310-252072005).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’an, 710048, People’s Republic of China

    Kai Wang, Qingnan Meng, Lulu Du, Yufei Tang & Kang Zhao

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  1. Kai Wang
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  2. Qingnan Meng
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  3. Lulu Du
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  4. Yufei Tang
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  5. Kang Zhao
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Correspondence to Qingnan Meng or Kang Zhao.

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Wang, K., Meng, Q., Du, L. et al. Preparation of manganese oxide-porous carbon nanocomposites by self-activation and their enhanced performance for methylene blue degradation. J Nanopart Res 23, 27 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-020-05112-1

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