Oxidative Treatment of Rhodamine B Solution on CoOx/sepiolite Catalysts

Abstract

Sepiolite loaded with different cobalt oxide contents has been prepared by the precipitation method followed by calcination at 410ºC. The synthesized Co-loaded samples were characterized by physical methods using XRD, SEM, BET, and H₂-TPR. The obtained solids have a large specific area and good distribution of cobalt oxide nanoparticles on sepiolite carrier. The catalysts were tested for the oxidative removal of rhodamine B solution and found that 1.0-3.0 wt.% cobalt ion/sepiolite samples exhibited the highest decoloration efficiency of rhodamine B (88-90%) in the presence of hydrogen peroxide at room temperature after the treatment of 30 mg/L of RhB solution in 210 minutes.