With a small particle size, specific surface area and chemical nature, Pd/Cu-Fe nanocomposites can efficiently remove the organic compounds. In order to understand the applicability for in situ remediation of contaminated groundwater, the degradation of p-nitrophenol by Pd/Cu-Fe nanoparticles was investigated. The degradation results demonstrated that these nanoparticles could effectively degrade p-nitrophenol and near 90% of degradation efficiency was achieved by Pd/Cu-Fe nanocomposites for 120 min treatment. The efficiency of degradation increased significantly when the Pd content increased from 0.05 wt.% and 0.10 wt.% to 0.20 wt.%. Meanwhile, the removal percentage of p-nitrophenol increased from 75.4% and 81.7% to 89.2% within 120 min. Studies on the kinetics of p-nitrophenol that reacts with Pd/Cu-Fe nanocomposites implied that their behaviors followed the pseudo-first-order kinetics. Furthermore, the batch experiment data suggested that some factors, including Pd/Cu-Fe availability, temperature, pH, different ions (SO42-, PO43-, NO3-) and humic acid content in water, also have significant impacts on p-nitrophenol degradation efficiency. The recyclability of the material was evaluated. The results showed that the Pd/Cu-Fe nanoparticles have good recycle performance, and after three cycles, the removal rate of p-nitrophenol is still more than 83%.
