Enhanced heterogeneous photo-Fenton-like degradation of tetracycline over CuFeO 2 /biochar catalyst through accelerating electron transfer under visible light

• Published in: Journal of environmental management 2021-05, Vol.285, p.112093
• Main Authors: Xin, Shuaishuai, Ma, Bingrui, Liu, Guocheng, Ma, Xiaoming, Zhang, Chunlei, Ma, Xiaohan, Gao, Mengchun, Xin, Yanjun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Catalysis; Charcoal; Electron Transport; Electrons; Hydrogen Peroxide; Light
• ISSN: 1095-8630
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112093

The visible-light induced heterogeneous photo-Fenton-like (HPF-like) process is regarded as a promising technique for organic pollutants degradation due to its efficient utilization of solar energy and high H O activation activity. This study prepared the CuFeO /biochar catalysts via hydrothermal technique at no extra reductant and systematically investigated their band structure and photoelectric properties. The dispersed distribution of CuFeO particles in CuFeO /biochar composites narrowed bandgap of CuFeO and promoted electron transport of CuFeO . Compared with CuFeO , the CuFeO /biochar containing 1.0 g biochar in the preparation (CuFeO /biochar-1.0) possessed higher carrier density and longer photoelectron lifetime, which is beneficial to higher catalytic performance. The apparent rate constant for tetracycline as target pollutant degradation by CuFeO /biochar-1.0 was 2.0 times higher than that by CuFeO . The acquired optimum conditions for tetracycline degradation were 220 mg L CuFeO /BC-1.0, 22 mM H O and pH 6.4 using response surface methodology. The quenching experiments and ESR analysis revealed that OH was the predominant active species, and photoelectron and O were auxiliary species. The photoelectron could promote in-situ recycling of Cu to Cu and Fe to Fe , which significantly improved H O activation by CuFeO . The possible pathway of tetracycline was proposed according to intermediates identified by HPLC/MS. The toxicity analysis demonstrated that the overall toxicity of the identified intermediates was reduced in HPF-like system.