Magnetic Nitrogen-Doped Fe₃C@ c Catalysts for Efficient Activation of Peroxymonosulfate for Degradation of Organic Pollutants

Abstract

Recoverable and stable nanocatalysts are essential for peroxymonosulfate - based advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) in wastewater purification treatment. In this paper, Fe3C nanorods @ nitrogen-doped carbon composites (N-Fe3C@C) with core-shell architecture were fabricated by the co-precipitation and calcination methods, and characterized and analyzed in terms of their crystal structure, microscopic morphology, and surface chemical elements. In addition, N-Fe3C@C-4 degraded 85.36% of tetracycline in 10 min under PMS, which was much higher than the catalytic ability of Fe3O4 (42.03% in 10 min). Both the active radical trapping and EPR experiments verified that 1O2 played a key role for degradation of organic dyes in PMS system. The investigation on the degradation mechanism revealed that the presence of the carbon layer facilitated to adsorb TC, accelerate free radical generation and promote the redox cycle of Fe2+/Fe3+ in the nanocatalyst. This study offers novel ideas for multifunctional catalysts for advanced wastewater purification treatment.