(48h) Ultra-Fine Heterogeneous Reduced Graphene Oxide Supported Zero Valent Iron-Copper Bimetallic Composite for the Efficient Degradation of Antibiotic Sulfamethoxazole

In this study, a novel catalyst i.e., ultra-fine heterogeneous reduced graphene oxide supported zero valent iron-copper bimetallic composite ZVI-Cu@rGO was prepared using wet ion exchange process for the activation of sodium percarbonate (SPC) and significant degradation efficiency was achieved using sulfamethoxazole (SMX) as a target pollutant. The characterization of ZVI-Cu@rGO was performed using Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRF), Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) to evaluate the psychochemical properties. The mass ratio of ZVI-Cu@rGO (1:0.5:1) indicated significant degradation efficiency (95.8%) of SMX in the first 60 minutes with a final pH value of 5.96 whereas, the removal of total organic carbon (TOC) was 79.5%. Electron spin resonance (ESR) was performed to confirm the presence of hydroxyl and superoxide radicals produced in SPC activated ZVI-Cu@rGO. The plausible reaction mechanism was also proposed using the outcomes of the experiments. Higher stability, reusability (even after 5 runs) and a wider pH range (3-8) makes this newly synthesized catalyst highly suitable for the efficient degradation of SMX.