Nitrogen-doped porous carbon transformed from polymer carbon nitride for persulfate activation towards efficient degradation of tetracycline via the electron transfer-dominated non-radical pathway

• Published in: Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 2023-11, Vol.152, p.105196, Article 105196
• Main Authors: He, Songwen, Zhang, Xiaoping, Fang, Xiaolin, Zhang, Xin, Zhong, Siqi, Zhang, Guichang, Xu, Wei, Gu, Tianxin, Shi, Lin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Melamine-cyanuric acid; N-doped porous carbon; Nonradical pathway; Persulfate activation
• ISSN: 1876-1070; 1876-1089
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jtice.2023.105196

•Highly nitrogen-doped porous carbon was prepared by one-step thermal polymerization.•LAA-NC0.6 showed excellent performance to activate PS for the removal of TC.•The graphitic N and ketonic group (C=O) were the essential active sites on LAA-NC0.6.•Direct electron transfer and 1O2 were dominant in LAA-NC0.6/PS systems. : metal-free carbon materials have been extensively researched for the removal of aqueous pollutants by persulfate activation. However, it was still worth exploring the contribution of adsorption of carbon materials to the catalytic efficiency as well as the ROS degradation pathway. : A series of g-C3N4 and nitrogen-doped porous carbon materials were prepared by combining L-ascorbic acid with melamine-cyanuric acid (MCA) for the removal of tetracycline from wastewater. The carbon materials were analyzed by using XRD, XPS, Raman and other characterization methods. Furthermore, the effect of different reaction parameters on TC degradation was investigated, and the active species were identified by scavenging experiments and EPR. : The prepared porous carbon sample LAA-NC0.6 has a high nitrogen content of 31.93 at%. LAA-NC0.6 could completely remove TC within 40 min with first-order kinetic constant as high as 0.14995 min−1, which was 167-fold higher than that of pristine g-C3N4. Catalytic studies showed that the degradation of TC was a non-radical pathway dominated by electron transfer and that adsorption had a marked influence on the catalytic performance of the LAA-NC0.6/PS system. [Display omitted]