Bimetallic-doped perovskite oxide as an efficient catalyst for Fenton-like degradation of tetracycline

The increasing levels of pollutants have led to a growing demand for wastewater treatment technologies. Fenton-like processes that require no external energy input are particularly promising. In this study, a dual-metal Cu, Mn-doped LaFeO3 perovskite oxide catalyst (LaFeCuMn) using a simple citrate-assisted sol-gel method has been successfully synthesized and demonstrated for tetracycline (TC) degradation. LaFeCuMn achieves a 90.3% removal rate of high-concentration TC of 40 ppm, within 30 minutes, which is six times higher than that of LaFeO3 and superior to single-metal doped samples. The enhanced TC degradation is attributed to dual doping, which optimizes the presence of oxygen vacancies, promoting H2O2 adsorption and subsequently allowing the O-O bond from H2O2 to dissociate into an OH radical. The electron transfer among Fe, Cu, and Mn promotes the regeneration of Fe2+, Cu+, and Mn2+ active sites. The TC degradation performance of LaFeCuMn outperforms that of most reported TC degradation in the literature, confirming its promise for practical applications.