Preparation of Immobilized Fenton Reagent with H2O2 Generated by Solar Light-Illuminated Cuprous Oxide/Chitosan Nanocomposites at Neutral pH Value

The deposition of needle-shaped cuprous oxide (Cu
₂
O) particles (20~50 nm) on chitosan nanoparticles were made by anodic oxidation of copper electrode in alkaline solution, Fe
²⁺
was immobilized by chitosan nanoparticles with chelating. Chitosan-Fe
²⁺
/Cu
₂
O were used as an immobilized Fenton reagent activated by visible light at biocompatible pH values(pH≈7-8) in the degradation of brilliant red X-3B without adding H
₂
O
₂
. The results indicated that the effect of this novel Fenton system (1g/L nano-sized Chitosan-Fe
²⁺
/Cu
₂
O composites+ visible light) was better than that of traditional Fenton system. The residual copper ions and iron ions concentration after the degradation of the dye reactive brilliant red were 0.396 mg/L and 0.105 mg/L respectively, which was lower than the present regulation for drinking water.