Enhanced oxidation of rhodamine B using Mg-Cu-Al hydrotalcite/chitosan composites as catalysts

A series of Mg-Cu-Al hydrotalcite/chitosan materials have been synthesized via a co‑precipitation method, in which chitosan is synthesized from chitin extraction from waste shrimp shells. The obtained solids were characterized by XRD, BET, EDX, IR techniques. The materials have a well crystallized hydrotalcite structure and medium surface area. It was observed that Mg-Cu-Al hydrotalcite/chitosan catalysts exhibited the high activity in catalyzing enhanced oxidation of rhodamine B solution with H2O2. 95% of 100 mg/L of rhodamine B solution could be decolourized by Mg-Cu-Al hydrotalcite/chitosan composite with the presence of hydrogen peroxide at room temperature for 150 minutes. Therefore, Mg-Cu-Al hydrotalcite/chitosan is a promising and reasonable catalyst for use in the enhanced oxidation of rhodamine B.