Effective degradation of sulfonamides (SAs) in water is of global importance for decreasing its pathogenicity and bioaccumulation. In this study, Mn3(PO4)2 was used as a carrier to fabricate a novel and high-efficient catalyst with Co3O4 anchored (Co3O4@Mn3(PO4)2) for the activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to degrade SAs. Surprisingly, the catalyst exhibited superior performance, and nearly 100% of SAs (10 mg L-1) including sulfamethazine (SMZ), sulfadimethoxine (SDM), sulfamethoxazole (SMX), and sulfisoxazole (SIZ) was degraded by Co3O4@Mn3(PO4)2-activated PMS within 10 min. A series of characterization of the Co3O4@Mn3(PO4)2 composite were conducted and the main operational parameters of SMZ degradation were investigated. SO4•-, •OH, and 1O2 were determined to be the dominating reactive oxygen species (ROS) responsible for the degradation of SMZ. Co3O4@Mn3(PO4)2 also exhibited excellent stability and the removal rate of SMZ still maintained over 99% even in the fifth cycle. The plausible pathways and mechanisms of SMZ degradation in the system of Co3O4@Mn3(PO4)2/PMS were deduced on the basis of the analyses of LCMS/MS and XPS. This is the first report on high-efficient heterogeneous activating PMS by mooring Co3O4 on Mn3(PO4)2 to degrade SAs, which provides us with a strategy to structure novel bimetallic catalysts for PMS activation.
Keywords: Co(3)O(4)@Mn(3)(PO(4))(2); Degradation mechanism; Peroxymonosulfate; Sulfonamides (SAs) removal.
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