Superior azo-dye degradation of Fe-Si-B-P amorphous powders with graphene oxide addition

Abstract Degradation behavior of methyl orange and direct blue 6 azo dyes catalyzed by Fe76Si9B10P5 amorphous powders and graphene oxide (GO) addition composites has been investigated. The results revealed that the Fe76Si9B10P5 amorphous powders are more effective to degrade azo dyes than the commercial Fe powders with the activity energies of 24.2 kJ mol−1 and 20.4 kJ mol−1 for the degradation of methyl orange and direct blue 6 azo dye solutions. The addition of GO into the amorphous powders further improves the degradation activity, accompanied with lower activation energies of 18.3 kJ mol−1 and 16.7 kJ mol−1. High degradation performance of Fe-Si-B-P amorphous powders was attributed to the amorphous structure in metastable state and the existence of metalloids which are beneficial to the formation of a surface layer with high activity. The addition of GO accelerates the degradation process due to its high surface area and the existence of large number of functional groups.