Characterization and application of Cu based superhydrophobic catalyst

Highlights

• Synthesis of superhydrophobic, environmentally green, heterogeneous and stable catalyst.

• Isolation of the catalyst is very easy.

• Increase of k_app value with the increase of WCA.

Abstract

Superhydrophobic (SH) Copper salt was prepared with the help of three different chemical etching agents and characterized by various analytical techniques like Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, UV–visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffractogram (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The SH nature of the material was confirmed by water contact angle (WCA) measurement. Cu surface with the etching agent was made to produce SH Cu surface. Among the chemical etching agents the system with Cl, F and Si exhibited the SH character. The SH hierarchically structured heterogeneous materials produced were used as a catalyst for the reduction of Cr(VI) and 4-nitrophenol (NiP). The catalytic activities of the materials were compared on the apparent rate constant (k_app) and induction time (T_i). Among the catalyst systems used, the Cu-Trichoropentaflourooctylsilane (TCPFOSi) system exhibited the highest k_app and T_i values.