The catalytic performance of Cu46Zr47-xAl7Yx amorphous ribbons in the degradation of AO II dye wastewater.

Metallic glasses (MGs) with unique disordered atomic stacking structures exhibit excellent catalytic performance in wastewater treatment. The catalytic degradation of Orange II (AO II) aqueous solutions by four CuZr-based MG ribbons under such processing parameters as pH values, the dosage of ribbons, and temperature was investigated in this paper. The catalytic performance of the MG ribbons was characterized by using the degradation efficiency of the dye wastewater. The phase constituent, surface morphology, and chemical valence state of elements on the surface of MG ribbons before and after use were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. The results indicate that the Cu46Zr42Al7Y5 MG ribbon has the best catalytic performance among the Cu46Zr47-xAl7Yx (x = 0, 1, 3, 5) MGs in the degradation process, and the dye in the wastewater can almost be completely decolorized within 60 min under the conditions of pH = 2, the dosage of ribbons being 1.8 g/L and water bath temperature of 313 K, with the degradation efficiency and chemical oxygen demand removal being 96.05% and 51.73%, respectively. Furthermore, the Cu46Zr42Al7Y5 MG ribbon still shows superior structural stability and degradation performance after repeated use, and the corrosion pits on the MG surface promote the physicochemical reaction between the wastewater and the ribbons.