Preparation of Catalytic Paper Using Fe-Pillared Bentonite as Filler by a Paper-Making Technique

Fe-pillared bentonite was made into a paper-like composite by a papermaking technique using pulp fiber and activated carbon fiber. Orange II was used as a model compound to investigate the photocatalytic performance of the paper. SEM analysis showed that the catalytic paper had a porous structure originating from the layered fiber network, with Fe-pillared bentonite mostly embedded in the grooves along the axial direction of the carbon fibers. The optimum preparation conditions were: activated carbon fiber:Fe-pillared bentonite=1:2, activated carbon fiber:pulp fiber=5:3, the charges of Na2SiO3 and PAE were 2.5% based on the Fe-pillared bentonite and 0.4% based on the oven-dry fibers, respectively. The degradation ratio reached 85.2% at 180 min and after that little increase was observed. The catalyst could be repeatedly use and keep a high stability during the first 4 cycling use.