Non-radical activation of low additive periodate by carbon-doped boron nitride for acetaminophen degradation: Significance of high-potential metastable intermediates

Longbo Jiang; Wenqin Li; Hui Wang; Jinjuan Yang; Haoyun Chen; Xinyu Wang; Xingzhong Yuan; Hou Wang

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.133806

Non-radical activation of low additive periodate by carbon-doped boron nitride for acetaminophen degradation: Significance of high-potential metastable intermediates

J Hazard Mater. 2024 May 5:469:133806. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.133806. Epub 2024 Feb 15.

Authors

Longbo Jiang¹, Wenqin Li², Hui Wang³, Jinjuan Yang², Haoyun Chen⁴, Xinyu Wang², Xingzhong Yuan², Hou Wang²

Affiliations

¹ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University and Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, PR China. Electronic address: jianglongbo@hnu.edu.cn.
² College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Hunan University and Key Laboratory of Environmental Biology and Pollution Control (Hunan University), Ministry of Education, Changsha 410082, PR China.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering, University College London, London WC1E 7JE, UK.
⁴ School of Resources and Environment, Hunan University of Technology and Business, Changsha 410205, PR China.

PMID: 38430599
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2024.133806

Abstract

Metal-free environmental-friendly and cost-effective catalysts for periodate (PI) activation are crucial to popularize their application for micropollutant removal in water. Herein, we report that carbon-doped boron nitride (C-BN) can efficiently activate PI to degrade acetaminophen under very low oxidant doses (40 μM) and over a relatively wide pH range (3-9). As expected, the significant reduction in periodate addition is likely to be due to the higher chemical utilization efficiency achieved by a non-radical oxidation pathway. This involved two main mechanisms, the electron transfer process mediated by the high-potential metastable C-BN-900-PI* complex and singlet oxygen. In this case, the CO groups and defects on the C-BN surface were identified as key active sites for PI activation. Notably, the prepared C-BN-900 had good cycling performance and the degradation efficiency is recovered after simple annealing. The existence of HCO₃^- and HA significantly inhibited the reaction, whereas Cl^-, SO₄^2-, and NO₃^- had little effect on the degradation of ACE. Overall, this study provides a new alternative method to regulate the non-radical pathway of boron nitride/periodate system.

Keywords: Boron nitride; Electron transfer process; High-potential metastable intermediates; Low additive periodate; Singlet oxygen.