Fabrication of novel nanoporous copper powder catalyst by dealloying of ZrCuNiAl amorphous powders for the application of wastewater treatments.

The nanoporous copper (Cu) powders (NPCPs) co-existing with CuO was fabricated by dealloying of atomized Zr-Cu-Ni-Al amorphous powders. The as-fabricated NPCPs, with an inner core and outer shell, showed a large specific surface area of 7.52mg and exhibited significantly superior degradation ability in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (HO) for the complete elimination of methyl orange (MO) under both acidic and neutral environments. The enhanced catalytic decomposition properties of HO by NPCPs were mainly attributed to the large specific surface area and three-dimensional continuous nanoporous structure with unique atomic steps on the ligament surfaces. The mechanistic investigations revealed that CuO/HO reactions in acidic environment and Cu/HO reactions in neutral environment, respectively, were responsible for the high degradability of azo dyes, indicating that NPCPs/HO could be a good Fenton-like reagent in application of wastewater treatments.