Enhanced Fenton degradation of Rhodamine B over nanoscaled Cu-doped LaTiO3 perovskite

[Display omitted] ► LaTi0.4Cu0.6O3 showed high Fenton activity and stability for the degradation of RhB. ► The introduction of Cu induced the formation of LaTiO3 perovskite. ► The coexistence of Ti3+/4+ and Cu+/2+ in the perovskite structure enhanced Fenton activity. ► H2O2 was predominately converted into OH and HO2/O2− in LaTi0.4Cu0.6O3 suspension. Cu-doped LaTiO3 perovskite was prepared with a sol–gel method and characterized by X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The introduction of Cu induced the formation of LaTiO3 perovskite in which titanium existed as Ti3+, resulting in the coexistence of Ti3+/4+ and Cu+/2+ in the perovskite structure. LaTi0.4Cu0.6O3 showed highly Fenton activity and stability for the degradation of RhB with H2O2 in the initial pH range of 4–9. Moreover, the catalyst buffered the solution with the tested initial pH to around 7 during the adsorption process. The studies of electron spin resonance, the effect of radical scavengers and other experiments verified that H2O2 was predominately converted into OH and HO2/O2− in LaTi0.4Cu0.6O3 suspension. A mechanism of heterogeneous Fenton catalysis was proposed on the basis of the both cycles of Ti3+/Ti4+ and Cu+/Cu2+ during the interaction of LaTi0.4Cu0.6O3 with H2O2.