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Surface facet Fe2O3-based visible light photocatalytic activation of persulfate for the removal of RR120 dye: nonlinear modeling and optimization

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Abstract

Photocatalytic activation of persulfate (PS) is recently emerged as an energy-efficient and environmentally sustainable approach for pollutants degradation, which enables to leverage the strengths of low-cost solar energy and heterogeneous catalysis. Herein, we investigated the photocatalytic decomposition of reactive red 120 (RR120) dye using PS-activated Fe2O3 nanoparticles and elucidated the effect of their facets, α–Fe2O3 (001), β–Fe2O3 (100), and γ–Fe2O3 (111). β–Fe2O3 not only boosted the charge carrier separation but also provided more active sites for PS activation resulting in 6- and 3.5-fold higher photocatalytic activities compared to α–Fe2O3 and γ–Fe2O3, respectively. Response surface methodology and artificial neural network coupled with genetic algorithm models were utilized to optimize and foresee Fe2O3/PS system under visible light. Almost 100% color removal and 82% organic removal were observed under the optimum conditions at 20 mg/L RR120, 22 mg/L β–Fe2O3, 18 mg/L PS, and pH: 3. Scavenger test indicated that both sulfate and hydroxyl radicals are responsible for the observed RR120 removal. Although cell viability test indicated that cytotoxicity of wastewater is not significantly reduced after treatment. All the results proposed that β–Fe2O3/PS at relatively low doses has a great potential to decompose and mineralize recalcitrant dyes in wastewater under invisible light.

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Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available at Faculty of Materials and Chemical Engineering GIK Institute and partly Instituto de Quimica de Araraquara, Universidade estatudal de Paulista, UNESP, São Paulo Brazil. Data can be obtained from the authors upon reasonable request and with permission of the GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology.

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Funding

The authors are grateful to the INCT-DATREM (FAPESP #2014/50945–4) and (CNPq #465571/2014–0), and Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel—Brazil (CAPES; Financing Code 001) for supporting this work. S.U. Khan received a scholarship from CNPq–TWAS (#315714/2018–2). J.A.L. Perini and L.D.M. Torquato received scholarship from FAPESP (#2016/18057–7 and #2019/00463–7). S.U Khan is also grateful to Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi, KP, Pakistan, for the provision of financial support during doctoral research in Pakistan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Materials and Chemical Engineering, GIK Institute of Engineering Sciences and Technology, Topi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

    Saad U. Khan, Hammad Khan & Sajjad Hussain

  2. Institute of Chemistry, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Araraquara, Brazil

    Saad U. Khan, Lilian D. M. Torquato, Sabir Khan, João A. Lima Perini & Maria V. Boldrin Zanoni

  3. National Institute for Alternative Technologies of Detection, Toxicological Evaluation and Removal of Micropollutants and Radioactives (INCT-DATREM), Institute of Chemistry, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Araraquara, Brazil

    Saad U. Khan, Lilian D. M. Torquato, Danielle P. Oliveira, Daniel J. Dorta, João A. Lima Perini & Maria V. Boldrin Zanoni

  4. School of Pharmaceutical Science of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil

    Raul G. Miranda & Danielle P. Oliveira

  5. Faculdade de Filosofia, Ciências e Letras, Departamento de Química, Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil

    Daniel J. Dorta

  6. Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Texas at Arlington, 416 Yates Street, Arlington, TX, 76019-0308, USA

    Hyeok Choi

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  1. Saad U. Khan
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Contributions

Sr. #

Authors

Contribution

1

Saad Ullah Khan, João A. Lima Perini

Conceptualization, investigation, methodology, writing

2

Hammad Khan

Formal analysis related to statistical and computational modeling, software, validation

3

Sajjad Hussain

Supervision of research, writing, and editing

4

Sabir Khan, Lilian D. M. Torquato, Daniel J. Dorta

Experimentation, analysis, and investigation

5

Raul G. Miranda, Danielle P. Oliveira

Methodology and experimentation

6

Hyeek Choi

Draft editing, reviewing

7

Maria V.B Zanoni

Investigation, resources, and visulaization

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hammad Khan.

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The work was carried out at the Faculty of Materials and Chemical Engineering GIK Institute and partly Instituto de Quimica de Araraquara, Universidade estatudal de Paulista, UNESP, SP Brazil and the Institution has approved the submission of the paper for possible publication.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Highlights

• Surface facet engineered Fe2O3 was synthesized and characterized.

• RSM and ANN-GA were utilized to optimize influential parameter for degradation of

dye.

• ANN was superior in terms of accuracy and generalization compared to RSM.

• RR 120 dye degradation mechanism and ecotoxicity were also evaluated.

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Khan, S.U., Khan, H., Hussain, S. et al. Surface facet Fe2O3-based visible light photocatalytic activation of persulfate for the removal of RR120 dye: nonlinear modeling and optimization. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 51651–51664 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-022-19230-x

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