Hydrothermal Preparation and Characterization of Co-based Layered Double Hydroxide and their Catalytic Activity

In this report an efficient catalyst was prepared by hydrothermal route to produce Co-Al layered double hydroxide nanosheets (LDH-NS) (less active material), followed by alkali treatment to prepare the more active material (A-LDH). The scanning electron microscope (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) techniques were used to determine the morphological and chemical properties, chemical structure and the elemental analysis of both layered double hydroxide nanosheets LDH-NS and alkali treated layered double hydroxide nanosheets (A-LDH). Moreover, the both samples LDHNS and A-LDH show a significantly catalytic behavior towards the degradation of crystal violet (CV) dye in the presence of H2O2 as assisting agent. However, the catalytic efficiency for both samples LDH-NS and A-LDH is highly reduced in the absence of the oxidizing agent (H2O2). The apparent rate constant of the catalytic degradation reaction was preformed from the first order kinetic model. Keyword: Layered double hydroxide; alkali treatment; catalytic degradation; CV-dye; water treatment.