Heterogenous electro-Fenton degradation of sulfamethoxazole on a polyethylene glycol-coated magnetite nanoparticles catalyst.

We report the preparation and application of poly (ethylene) glycol (PEG) coated magnetite nanoparticles (MNPs) catalyst for the heterogeneous electro-Fenton (HEF) degradation of sulfamethoxazole in real wastewater PEG-coated MNPs of four MNP:PEG ratios were synthesised using the co-precipitation method. The synthesised MNP were characterised using FTIR, XRD, EDX, TEM, and CHN elemental analysis. It was observed that the coating of MNP with PEG influences the nanoparticle size, agglomeration tendencies and catalytic efficiency of MNPs properties in the HEF degradation process. A 1:1 optimal MNP:PEG catalyst yielded 91% sulfamethoxazole degradation and 48% total organic carbon removal in 60 min, which is an improvement of 11% over degradation with the uncoated MNP. The PEG-coated MNP showed higher stability in 10 consecutive reaction cycles, reduced leaching, and improved performance at a lower dosage and broader pH range than the uncoated MNPs. These results show that coating MNP with PEG enhances HEF catalytic performance in the degradation of sulfamethoxazole in wastewater.