Two different porous copper metal–organic frameworks (Cu-MOFs) named as Cu3(BTC)2 and Cu(BDC) were synthesized and applied as heterogeneous catalysts for the catalytic wet peroxide oxidation (CWPO) of simulated phenol wastewater (100 mg L−1). The materials were characterized using X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. By comparison, the Cu(BDC) exhibited a better catalytic degradation performance. and was selected for further experiments. Several parameters including temperature, H2O2 dose, catalyst dose and initial pH of the phenol wastewater which could affect the catalytic degradation efficiency by the Cu(BDC) were investigated. Under optimum conditions, a phenol conversion of 99% and a COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) removal of 93% were achieved. The degradation of phenol solutions of different concentrations (100 to 1000 mg L−1) was also carried out. No matter whether a low or high concentration of the phenol solution was used, satisfactory results with a phenol conversion of 99% and a COD removal of over 90% were obtained. After being reused twice, the Cu(BDC) still maintained a good catalytic performance with a phenol conversion of 99% and a COD removal of over 85%. Like other copper catalysts, the mechanism of the degradation process was a hydroxyl radical mechanism. The leaching of Cu2+ was also monitored by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) and a negligible release of copper (7 ppm) was observed. Overall, Cu-MOFs could be promising heterogeneous catalysts for the catalytic oxidation of phenol with H2O2 as the oxidant.

Copper hydroxyl sulfates Cu4(OH)6SO4-A and Cu4(OH)6SO4-B were successfully synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method and applied as heterogeneous catalysts to degrade phenol wastewater in a batch reactor in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The influence of temperature, H2O2 dosage, initial pH and catalyst dosage on phenol and COD removal efficiencies was investigated to get optimum conditions and to understand the degradation process more clearly. The Cu2+ concentrations in the solutions after three hours of reaction were also measured to prove the catalysts were stable. Excellent results, phenol removal efficiency of 99% and COD removal efficiency of 97%, were achieved when treating 100 and 500 mg L−1 phenol wastewater. Even though the catalysts had low specific surface area, mesopores mainly existed to decrease diffusion control of H2O2 and organics.

•A novel and relatively more convenient method to prepare core–shell particles was proposed.•The morphology of latex and the property of the film were noticeably influenced with the content of siloxane.•It was of vital importance to control the pH of system in faintly acid condition.•The mechanism of ring opening polymerization between A-151 and D4 was discussed.In this paper, a new method was designed to prepare polyacrylate modified by polysiloxane latex particles, with methyl methacrylate (MMA) and butyl acrylate (BA) as main monomers, vinyltriethoxysilane (A-151) as functional monomer and octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane (D4) as grafting agent. The chemical structure and morphology of the latexes were characterized by FTIR, TEM, and particle size analyzer. The properties of the films were tested in terms of static contact angle, water absorption and TGA. The results showed that uniform spherical structure and narrow particle size distribution could be obtained in the latexes. Furthermore, the hydrophobicity, low surface free energy and thermal stability were also noticeably increased with the content of polysiloxane. The mechanism of ring opening polymerization between D4 and A-151 was also discussed; it turned out that it was quite important to control the pH under faintly acid conditions.