Development of high-performance bi-functional novel CdSnS2 atom clusters for adsorption of rose Bengal and AOP-assisted degradation of methylene blue

Abstract

The fabrication of glycerol-mediated novel CdSnS₂ atom clusters by one-pot co-precipitation was conducted to address rising concerns about environmental harm from hazardous organic compounds. The synthesized catalyst was assessed for the adsorption and Fenton-like advanced oxidation process degradation performance on organic compounds such as rose Bengal (RB) and methylene blue (MB), respectively. Textural characterization of the material, such as structure, morphology, and composition, was achieved via XRD, SEM, EDAX, FTIR, XPS, TEM, N₂ adsorption, and UV/vis spectrophotometry. The adsorption data of RB fitted well in the Langmuir isotherm and followed pseudo-second-order kinetics with a rate constant of 0.958 × 10⁻³ L mol⁻¹ s⁻¹ and an adsorption capacity of 917.43 mg g⁻¹. Furthermore, the atom clusters demonstrated AOP-assisted degradation of MB with an efficiency of 98.6 ± 1.13% and followed the first-order kinetics with a rate constant of 0.07010 min⁻¹. Moreover, different reaction parameters, scavengers, and water matrixes were investigated. As a result of this work, a novel catalyst has been developed that can effectively disintegrate and adsorb emerging non-biodegradable organic water pollutants.