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Dyes are used in various industries as coloring agents. The discharge of dyes, specifically synthetic dyes, in wastewater represents a serious environmental problem and causes public health concerns. The implementation of regulations for wastewater discharge has forced research towards either the development of new processes or the improvement of available techniques to attain efficient degradation of dyes. Catalytic oxidation is one of the advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), based on the active radicals produced during the reaction in the presence of a catalyst. This paper reviews the problems of dyes and hydroxyl radical-based oxidation processes, including Fenton’s process, non-iron metal catalysts, and the application of thin metal catalyst-coated tubular reactors in detail. In addition, the sulfate radical-based catalytic oxidation technique has also been described. This study also includes the effects of various operating parameters such as pH, temperature, the concentration of the oxidant, the initial concentration of dyes, and reaction time on the catalytic decomposition of dyes. Moreover, this paper analyzes the recent studies on catalytic oxidation processes. From the present study, it can be concluded that catalytic oxidation processes are very active and environmentally friendly methods for dye removal.

Electrochemical water splitting is an important process to produce hydrogen and oxygen for energy storage and conversion devices. However, it is often restricted by the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) due to its sluggish kinetics. To overcome the problem, precious metal oxide-based electrocatalysts, such as RuO and IrO, are widely used. The lack of availability and the high cost of precious metals compel researchers to find other resources for the development of cost-effective, environmentally friendly, earth-abundant, nonprecious electrocatalysts for OER. Such catalysts should have high OER performance and good stability in comparison to those of available commercial precious metal-based electrocatalysts. Herein, we report an inexpensive fabrication of bimetallic iron-nickel nanoparticles on FeNi-foil (FeNi@FeNi-foil) as an integrated OER electrode using a one-step calcination process. FeNi@FeNi-foil obtained at 900 °C shows superior OER activity in alkaline solution with an overpotential as low as 283 mV to achieve a current density of 10 mA cm and a small Tafel slope of 53 mV dec. The high performance and durability of the as-prepared nonprecious metal electrode even exceeds those of the available commercial RuO and IrO catalysts, showing great potential in replacing the expensive noble metal-based electrocatalysts for OER.

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SummaryThe inner surface of a metallic tube (i.d. 0.5 mm) was coated with a palladium (Pd)-based thin metallic layer by flow electroless plating. Simultaneous plating of Pd and silver (Ag) from their electroless-plating solution produced a mixed distributed bimetallic layer. Preferential acid leaching of Ag from the Pd–Ag layer produced a porous Pd surface. Hydrogenation of p-nitrophenol was examined in the presence of formic acid simply by passing the reaction solution through the catalytic tubular reactors. p-Aminophenol was the sole product of hydrogenation. No side reaction occurred. Reaction conversion with respect to p-nitrophenol was dependent on the catalyst layer type, the temperature, pH, amount of formic acid, and the residence time. A porous and oxidized Pd (PdO) surface gave the best reaction conversion among the catalytic reactors examined. p-Nitrophenol was converted quantitatively to p-aminophenol within 15 s of residence time in the porous PdO reactor at 40 °C. Evolution of carbon dioxide (CO2) was observed during the reaction, although hydrogen (H2) was not found in the gas phase. Dehydrogenation of formic acid did not occur to any practical degree in the absence of p-nitrophenol. Consequently, the nitro group was reduced via hydrogen transfer from formic acid to p-nitrophenol and not by hydrogen generated by dehydrogenation of formic acid.