Photo-Fenton degradation of resorcinol mediated by catalysts based on iron species supported on polymers

Novel Fe supported catalysts were prepared by immobilizing iron species on commercial polyethylene via three different methods: (1) acidic pre-treatment of the polyethylene followed by impregnation in aqueous Fe(NO₃)₃, (2) TiO₂ photo-catalytic pre-treatment of the polyethylene followed by forced hydrolysis of Fe(NO₃)₃, and (3) direct photo-Fenton attack with concomitant iron deposition on the polyethylene surface. The last method required soft conditions and led to the most photo-active Fe–polyethylene film. With this material, at a non-adjusted initial pH of 5.6 in the presence of H₂O₂, total degradation and 50% of resorcinol mineralization were observed in 40 and 60 min, respectively. Photo-Fenton functionalization/Fe-deposition process was also applied to polypropylene, high-impact polystyrene, and polymethylmethacrylate films. The efficiencies of all the prepared heterogeneous photo-catalysts were similar to that of an homogeneous photo-Fenton system containing the same amount of Fe^3+/2+ that leached during “heterogeneous” processes. That demonstrated than in our systems mainly homogeneous photo-Fenton reactions were responsible for the resorcinol degradation. The photo-catalytic activity observed for the Fe/polymer was a function of the specific polymer capacity to release the initially deposited iron into the solution.