Copper Nanoclusters/Red Globe Flower Carbon as a Fenton-Like Catalyst for the Degradation of Amido Black 10B

Cu-based copper nanoclusters have generated a great deal of interest based on for their fluorescent and catalytic properties. However, as heterogeneous catalysts, little attention has been given to the degradation of organic pollutants in Fenton-like reaction systems. Here, flower-like copper nanoclusters/flower carbon heterostructured microspheres were prepared by a one-pot mixing template-based method. With Cu-based copper nanoclusters/carbon (CuNCs/C) composite as a Fenton-like catalyst, a CuNCs/C-H 2 O 2 system was used to degrade Amido Black 10B (AB-10B). The effects of different factors on the degradation rate of AB-10B were studied. A 98.6% degradation ratio of AB-10B was reached for the CuNCs/C -H 2 O 2 based Fenton-like reaction within 180 min under optimal experimental conditions. The CuNCs/C concentration was 0.06 g/L, the dosage of H 2 O 2 was 25 mmol/L, the mass ratio of CuNCs and the carbon was 1:2, pH = 6.0, and the reaction temperature was 40.0 °C. The removal rate of AB-10B on CuNCs/C decreased by less than 10% even after 6 catalytic cycles, which showed a remarkable reusability characteristic and high catalytic activity. Cu 0 and Cu + were found to co-exist in the catalysts and presented a high degradation effective for intermediates that were identified by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). These results indicated that the catalysts can be used as highly efficient Fenton-like catalyst for the degradation of toxic organic pollutants in wastewater. Graphical Abstract