An ultrasound-assisted advanced oxidation process (AOP) has been demonstrated for sonocatalytic degradation of methyl orange (MO) with Fe 3 O 4 /polyaniline (Fe 3 O 4 /PANI) microspheres in near neutral solution (pH ~6). The Fe 3 O 4 /PANI microspheres were characterized with XRD, SEM, TEM, FT-IR, XPS, and zeta-potential measurements, and further tested in the role of adsorption and sonocatalytic decolorization of MO in solution. The isotherms and kinetics of MO adsorption with Fe 3 O 4 /PANI follow the Langmuir model and the pseudo-second-order model, respectively. The kinetics of sonocatalytic decolorization of MO with Fe 3 O 4 /PANI conforms to a combinational model involving the pseudo-second-order adsorption model and the pseudo-first-order degradation model, since Fe 3 O 4 /PANI has a high capacity to adsorb MO in solution. The percentage of room-temperature sonocatalytic degradation of MO with Fe 3 O 4 /PANI is about 4.8, 8.8, and 5.7 times of that with Fe 3 O 4 , dedoped Fe 3 O 4 /PANI, and ultrasonication alone, respectively. The eco-friendly Fe 3 O 4 /PANI featured with superparamagnetism and excellent reusability offers a promising sonocatalyst for rapid decolorization and enhanced degradation of azodyes in effluents.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.