Modification of Heterogeneous Catalyst Support with Hydrogen Peroxide and Its Application in the Degradation of Methylene Blue Wastewater

This work focuses on the green modification of heterogeneous catalyst supports. To carry out the modification, a 30 wt % hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) solution was used, and two catalysts, Cu/H2O2–Boehmite (modified with H2O2 solution) and Cu/Boehmite (unmodified with H2O2 solution), were prepared. And then, the prepared catalysts were characterized by the X-ray powder diffraction technique, N2 adsorption–desorption experiments, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and contact angle measurements. Meanwhile, the catalytic activities of the catalysts were investigated by the degradation of methylene blue (MB) wastewater. The results show that compared with Cu/Boehmite, the active Cu species on the surface of the Cu/H2O2–Boehmite catalyst exhibit better dispersion, a larger BET surface area and pore volume, and significantly enhanced hydrophilicity. The catalytic activity tests showed that the Cu/H2O2–Boehmite catalyst exhibited superior performance in the degradation of MB wastewater compared to the Cu/Boehmite catalyst, and the corresponding chemical oxygen demand removal rate reached 63% within 60 min in this study. Therefore, for catalysts with the same content of active components, modifying the support with a H2O2 solution is conducive to enhancing the catalytic activity.