Bimetal iron and manganese codoped SBA-16 catalyst: an efficient approach for dye removal through fenton-like reaction

Herein, the effectiveness of different amounts of highly active bimetallic FeMn catalysts (5, 10, and 20 Si/bimetal mole %) for water contaminant elimination was elucidated. The catalysts were immobilized on cage-like SBA-16 supports using the impregnation method. The Fe:Mn ratio was kept constant at 1:1 for all the catalysts. To characterize the synthesized catalysts, N₂ adsorption–desorption analysis was performed in order to study the structure of the catalysts. XRD was used to examine the crystal structure, while SEM, EDS, and mapping techniques were employed to investigate the morphology and distribution of the bimetal on the support. To evaluate the activity of the catalysts in removing water contaminants, three different dyes, namely Methyl Orange (MO), Orange (II) (O(II)), and Methylene Blue (MB), were selected. The influence of the amount of bimetal loaded on the support, catalyst dosage, H₂O₂ concentration, and pH variation was investigated on the dye removal process in order to find the best operational condition for efficient dye degradation. Based on the experimental data, the catalyst with 5% FeMn on SBA-16 was determined to be the most effective catalyst with 87% degradation of MO, 99.8% of O(II), and 99.9% of MB using a catalyst dosage of 0.5 g/L, an H₂O₂ concentration of 0.98 mM, and a pH of 4. Overall, this research highlights the synthesis and characterization of bimetallic FeMn codoped SBA-16 catalyst, and their effectiveness in removing water contaminants, as demonstrated by the degradation of various dyes under specific operational conditions.