Photo-Fenton-like degradation of azo dye methyl orange using synthetic ammonium and hydronium jarosite

Ammonium and hydronium jarosite were prepared by hydrothermal method with urea as the homogeneous precipitant. X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscope, X-ray photoelectron spectrum, UV-vis spectra and fourier transform infrared spectrum were used to characterize the resulting products. The photodegradation efficiency of the prepared ammonium and hydronium jarosite was studied in a photo-Fenton-like process using methyl orange (MO) as target pollutant. The photocatalytic degradation of MO over synthetic ammonium and hydronium jarosite under various conditions, such as catalysts loading, H2O2 concentration and initial pH, has been investigated. Results show that ammonium and hydronium jarosite have satisfactory photocatalysis effect in degradation of MO azo dye, and that the reactivity of hydronium jarosite toward the mineralization of MO was higher than that of ammonium jarosite. The novel ammonium and hydronium jarosite catalysts would be important for industrial applications due to their high photoactivity, little iron leaching and low cost. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.