Competitive Effects of Structural Heterogeneity and Surface Chemical States on Catalytic Efficiency of FeSiBPCu Amorphous and Nanocrystalline Alloys

Abstract

The competitive effects of structural heterogeneity and surface chemical states on the catalytic efficiency of FeSiBPCu amorphous, single nanocrystalline, and multiple crystalline ribbons toward methylene blue (MB) degradation via Fenton-like reactions are studied. The FeSiBPCu amorphous and single nanocrystalline ribbons show higher catalytic efficiency than their multiple crystalline counterpart and FeSiB amorphous alloy. There are more Fe0 and galvanic cell structures on the surfaces of FeSiBPCu single nanocrystalline ribbons than those of FeSiBPCu amorphous ribbons. However, the amorphous and single nanocrystalline ribbons show similar catalytic performance due to the passive iron phosphate and silica layer formed on the surfaces of FeSiBPCu single nanocrystalline ribbons during annealing. Formation of Fe3P0.37B0.63 and enrichment of iron phosphates and silica on the surface reduces the catalytic efficiency of FeSiBPCu multiple crystalline ribbons. The dye degrading process finishes within 30 min using FeSiBPCu amorphous ribbons even after 20 recycles. This work clarifies the competitive effects of structural heterogeneity and change of surface chemical states induced by annealing on the catalytic efficiency of FeSiBPCu amorphous ribbons.