Hydrothermal Synthesis of Boron-Doped MnO2and Its Decolorization Performance
To functionalize MnO2with foreign ions is one of the commonly used methods to improve the adsorption/oxidation properties of MnO2. Boron-doped MnO2was prepared by the reaction of MnSO4, KMnO4, and boric acid by a facile hydrothermal method. Boron-MnO2was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectra, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), selected area electron diffraction pattern (SAED), and X-ray photo-electron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques. The characterization of XPS and EDX confirms that boron has been doped into MnO2, but the boron dopant has no obvious effect on the crystallization of MnO2as shown by the results of XRD and Raman characterization. The boron-doped MnO2nanorods display high performance in the methyl orange degradation with a decolorization degree of 90% in 2 min (5% B-MnO2dosage, 5 mg; methyl orange concentration, 20 mg L−1).