Fabrication of a magnetic Mn(ii) cross-linked chitosan-amine/glutaraldehyde nanocomposite for the rapid degradation of dyes and aerobic selective oxidation of ethylbenzene

Abstract

Owing to the great demand for using sustainable, renewable, and widely available materials in catalytic systems for the conversion of waste/toxic material to high value-added and harmless products, biopolymers derived from natural sources have demonstrated great promise as an alternative to state-of-the-art materials that suffer from high costs and limitations. These have encouraged us to design and fabricate a new super magnetization of Mn–Fe₃O₄–SiO₂/amine-glutaraldehyde/chitosan bio-composite (MIOSC-N-et-NH₂@CS-Mn) for advanced/aerobic oxidation process. The morphological and chemical characterization of the as-prepared magnetic bio-composite was assessed using ICP-OES, DR UV-vis, BET, FT-IR, XRD, FE-SEM, HR-TEM, EDS, and XPS techniques. The PMS + MIOSC-N-et-NH₂@CS-Mn system was capable of degrading methylene orange (98.9% of removal efficiency) and selectively oxidizing ethylbenzene to acetophenone (conversion 93.70%, selectivity 95.10% and TOF 214.1 (10³ h⁻¹) within 8.0 min and 5.0 h, respectively. Moreover, MO was efficiently mineralized (TOC removal of ∼56.61) by MIOSC-N-et-NH₂@CS-Mn with 60.4%, 5.20, 0.03 and 86.02% of the synergistic index, reaction stoichiometric efficiency, specific oxidant efficiency, and oxidant utilization ratio in wide pH ranges, respectively. An understanding of its vital parameters and relationship of catalytic activity with structural, environmental factors, leaching/heterogenicity test, long-term stability, inhibitory effect of anions in water matrix, economic study and response surface method (RSM) were evaluated in detail. Overall, the prepared catalyst could be employed as an environmentally friendly and low-cost candidate for the enhanced activation of PMS/O₂ as an oxidant. Additionally, MIOSC-N-et-NH₂@CS-Mn exhibited great stability, high recovery efficiency, and low metal leaching, which eliminated the harsh condition reaction and supplied practical application performance for water purification and selective aerobic oxidation of organic compounds.