Magnetic iron-based MOF immobilized on Sephadex: A reusable catalyst for hydrogen generation and pesticide hydrolysis

Development of efficient and reusable catalysts for environmental remediation and clean energy production has gained significant attention. In the current work, the generation of hydrogen gas, as green energy, and pesticide degradation were concurrently performed in the presence of Fe-BDC-NH
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@Sephadex as an effective recyclable catalyst. Formerly, the Fe-BDC-NH
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@Sephadex composite was directly synthesized by the in-situ growth of Fe-BDC-NH
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within the polymeric matrix of Sephadex. The point of innovation in the current approach is to immobilize Sephadex within Fe-BDC-NH₂ to prepare a recyclable composite as a catalyst that can be concurrently exploited in the generation of hydrogen gas and pesticide degradation. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) images reveal that spherical particles of Sephadex macromolecules were fully covered with Fe-BDC-NH
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particles. Data on catalytic generation of hydrogen proclaimed that the increment in catalyst dose, borohydride concentration, and temperature was accompanied by a significant enhancement in the hydrogen production. After 20 min, the amount of generated hydrogen was raised from 167 to 308 mL by using 10% NaOH. While the volume of generated hydrogen reached 403 mL within 20 min by raising the Fe-BDC-NH
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@Sephadex dose to 40 mg. The prothiofos hydrolysis was significantly improved in the presence of the Fe-BDC-NH
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@Sephadex catalyst, and 98.4% of prothiofos was hydrolyzed in 150 min. Catalytic hydrolysis of sodium borohydride and prothiofos was lowered by 19.4% and 9.4% after six reusing hydrolysis cycles, respectively. Fe-BDC-NH
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@Sephadex showed good stability and reusability against repetitive use cycles in the hydrolysis of sodium borohydride and prothiofos, and can easily separate from the medium by magnet.