Facile synthesis of three-dimensional diatomite/manganese silicate nanosheet composites for enhanced Fenton-like catalytic degradation of malachite green dye

In this work, we demonstrate a novel and simple approach for fabrication of the complex three-dimensional (3D) diatomite/manganese silicate nanosheet composite (DMSNs). The manganese silicate nanosheets are uniformly grown on the inner and outer surface of diatomite with controllable morphology using a hydrothermal method. Such structural features enlarged the specific surface area, resulting in more catalytic active sites. In the heterogeneous Fenton-like reaction, the DMSNs exhibited excellent catalytic capability for the degradation of malachite green (MG). Under optimum condition, 500 mg/L MG solution was nearly 93% decolorized at 70 min in the reaction. The presented results show an enhanced catalytic behavior of the DMSNs prepared by the low-cost natural diatomite material and simple controllable process, which indicates their potential for environmental remediation applications.