Efficient photoactivation of peroxymonosulfate by Z-scheme nitrogen-defect-rich NiCo2O4/g-C3N4 for rapid emerging pollutants degradation

Jingjing Jiang; Xingyue Wang; Chenli Yue; Shengda Liu; Yanhong Lin; Tengfeng Xie; Shuangshi Dong

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.125528

Efficient photoactivation of peroxymonosulfate by Z-scheme nitrogen-defect-rich NiCo₂O₄/g-C₃N₄ for rapid emerging pollutants degradation

J Hazard Mater. 2021 Jul 15:414:125528. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.125528. Epub 2021 Feb 27.

Authors

Jingjing Jiang¹, Xingyue Wang¹, Chenli Yue¹, Shengda Liu², Yanhong Lin², Tengfeng Xie², Shuangshi Dong³

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Groundwater Resources and Environment, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, Jilin, China; Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, Jilin, China.
² College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130012, Jilin, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Groundwater Resources and Environment, Ministry of Education, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, Jilin, China; Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Water Resources and Environment, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, Jilin, China. Electronic address: dongshuangshi@gmail.com.

PMID: 33667803
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.125528

Abstract

Limited peroxymonosulfate (PMS, HSO₄^-) activation efficiency resulted from slow metal reduction has been a challenge in visible-light (vis) assisted sulfate radical-based oxidation. Herein, a Z-scheme photocatalyst composed of nitrogen-defect-rich graphitic carbon nitride nanosheets embedded with nickel cobaltate nanoparticles (NiCo₂O₄/g-C₃N₄-N_vac) was elaborately designed to accelerate Ni(III)/Ni(II) and Co(III)/Co(II) cycles for PMS activation in PMS/vis system. The NiCo₂O₄/g-C₃N₄-N_vac exhibited remarkable enhancement with a tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) degradation rate constant (0.1168 min^-1), higher than those of NiCo₂O₄/g-C₃N₄ (0.0724 min^-1) and g-C₃N₄ (0.0233 min^-1), respectively. Also, the removal efficiencies of 95.5%, 94.2%, 98.0% and 91.4% for carbamazepine, 4-chlorophenol, atrazine and p-nitrophenol were achieved within 30 min, respectively. Theoretical and experimental results suggested that nitrogen (N) vacancies modulated electric structure to build Z-scheme-charge-transfer platform for rapid reduction of Ni(III) and Co(III), thereby accelerating PMS activation for remarkable removal of emerging pollutants. NiCo₂O₄/g-C₃N₄-N_vac exhibited excellent stability and corresponding electrical energy per order (EE/O) in different water matrix was evaluated. Additionally, TCH degradation behavior, pathways and toxicity of products were analyzed, respectively. This work provided an novel paradigm to design the efficient photo-activator of PMS for environmental remediation.

Keywords: NiCo(2)O(4); Nitrogen vacancies; Sulfate radical-photo-Fenton-like; Z-scheme; g-C(3)N(4).

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't