Superior azo-dye degradation of Fe-Si-B-P amorphous powders with graphene oxide addition

Abstract Degradation behavior of methyl orange and direct blue 6 azo dyes catalyzed by Fe 76 Si 9 B 10 P 5 amorphous powders and graphene oxide (GO) addition composites has been investigated. The results revealed that the Fe 76 Si 9 B 10 P 5 amorphous powders are more effective to degrade azo dyes than the commercial Fe powders with the activity energies of 24.2 kJ mol −1 and 20.4 kJ mol −1 for the degradation of methyl orange and direct blue 6 azo dye solutions. The addition of GO into the amorphous powders further improves the degradation activity, accompanied with lower activation energies of 18.3 kJ mol −1 and 16.7 kJ mol −1 . High degradation performance of Fe-Si-B-P amorphous powders was attributed to the amorphous structure in metastable state and the existence of metalloids which are beneficial to the formation of a surface layer with high activity. The addition of GO accelerates the degradation process due to its high surface area and the existence of large number of functional groups.