Biochar-Based Single-Atom Catalyst with Fe-N3O-C Configuration for Efficient Degradation of Organic Dyes by Peroxymonosulfate Activation

Xueyan Xue; Nan Xue; Dandan Ouyang; Liuqian Yang; Yanan Wang; Hui Zhu; Aikelaimu Aihemaiti; Jiao Yin

doi:10.1021/acsami.3c12518

Biochar-Based Single-Atom Catalyst with Fe-N₃O-C Configuration for Efficient Degradation of Organic Dyes by Peroxymonosulfate Activation

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2023 Nov 30. doi: 10.1021/acsami.3c12518. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Xueyan Xue^{1

2}, Nan Xue^{1

2}, Dandan Ouyang¹, Liuqian Yang^{1

2}, Yanan Wang^{1

2}, Hui Zhu¹, Aikelaimu Aihemaiti¹, Jiao Yin¹

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Environmental Sciences and Technology, Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics & Chemistry, and Key Laboratory of Functional Materials and Devices for Special Environments, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi 830011, China.
² Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.

PMID: 38035388
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c12518

Abstract

Iron single-atom catalysts (Fe SACs) hold great promise for peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation and degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater. However, insights into crucial catalytic sites and activation mechanisms of biochar-based Fe SACs for PMS remain a challenge. Herein, cotton stalk-derived biochar-based Fe SACs (Fe SACs-BC) with an asymmetric Fe-N/O-C configuration were prepared, and their PMS activation and acid orange 7 (AO7) degradation mechanisms were investigated. The results showed that the removal efficiency of the Fe SACs-BC catalyst with Fe-N₃O-C configuration for AO7 and other five investigated organic dyes reached 95-99% within 15 min. The EPR spectrums, quenching experiments, electrochemical analysis, masking experiments, XPS, and theoretical calculations indicated that degradations of organic dyes were dominated by singlet oxygen, which was generated by direct PMS conversion at the electron-deficient carbon and iron sites in the Fe-N₃O-C configuration. The Fe SACs-BC/PMS exhibited high removal efficiency and strong tolerance in different water matrices with a wide pH range, various coexisting anions and interfering substances, showing great potential and applicability for efficient treatment of actual textile wastewaters.

Keywords: PMS activation; biochar; organic dyes; single-atom catalyst; singlet oxygen.