Comparative study on the corrosion and self-cleaning behavior of Fe-B-C and Fe-B-P amorphous alloys in methylene blue dye solution degradation

Abstract The degradation behaviors of Fe81B10C9 and Fe81B10P9 amorphous alloys in methylene blue (MB) solution by Fenton-like method were explored. The Fe81B10C9 amorphous alloy has higher degradation activity, longer service life and self-cleaning performance than the Fe81B10P9 amorphous alloy. The results have verified that the FeBC amorphous ribbon exhibits unique corrosion morphological characteristics with regular star-shaped C-rich corrosion pits while the Fe81B10P9 amorphous alloy shows homogeneous corrosion. The existence of star-shaped C-rich corrosion pits is associated with the formation of the galvanic cell structure between this C-rich pits and the amorphous base (C-poor), which can contribute to the accelerating of Fe atoms to lose electrons and the self-peeling of the degradation products. This work has important implications in understanding the high degradation activity and long service life of FeBC amorphous alloys in the treatment of dye wastewater by Fenton-like method.