Different adsorption-degradation behavior of methylene blue and Congo red in nanoceria/H2O2 system under alkaline conditions

Abstract

Abstract The Fenton-like activity of nanoceria has attracted intensive attention for wastewater treatment in recent years. During the Fenton-like reaction, the adsorption of organic pollutants on catalyst surface plays a key role in their degradation. In this work, the adsorption-degradation of methylene blue (MB) and Congo red (CR) in nanoceria/H 2 O 2 system was investigated under alkaline conditions. The MB exhibited weak adsorption on nanoceria surface via electrostatic attraction, while strong Lewis acid–base interactions between CR and cerium ions was observed. Moreover, the adsorption of MB was enhanced in the presence of H 2 O 2 by the formation of surface peroxide species, but an adsorption competition existed between H 2 O 2 and CR. With more Ce 3+ , CeO 2 nanorods could degrade CR efficiently as Fenton-like catalyst. But the degradation of MB catalyzed by ceria was much lower than that of CR in the presence of H 2 O 2 .