A general strategy to fabricate soft magnetic CuFe2O4@SiO2 nanofibrous membranes as efficient and recyclable Fenton-like catalysts

Fenton or Fenton-like technique, as one of the advanced oxidation processes, plays a significant role in the removal of non-easily degradable organic pollutants; however, most of such catalysts are fragile with poor structural integrity under large deformation, thereby restricting their wide applications. Herein, soft copper ferrite nanostructures functionalized silica nanofibrous membranes (CuFe 2 O 4 @SNM) were fabricated through a novel strategy with the combination of in-situ dopamine polymerization, ion adsorption, and cohesive precipitation method. Benefiting from the high metallic ion adsorption capacity of polydopamine together with the rapid co-precipitation of adsorbed ions on fiber surface in alkaline solution, the membranes possessed homogenously distributed nanostructured CuFe 2 O 4 , large specific surface area, and high pore volume, which are a benefit for the improvement of Fenton-like catalytic activity towards organic pollutants decomposition. The resultant soft CuFe 2 O 4 @SNM provided favorable catalytic performance towards organic pollutants with a relatively high degradation degree of 96% in 20 min, a fast removal rate of 0.148 min −1 , and outstanding recyclability. The successful preparation of such fascinating ceramic nanofibrous membranes would provide a reference for further exploitation of new type Fenton or Fenton-like catalysts with outstanding softness towards wastewater purification.