CoFe2O4@Ti3C2 MXene nanocomposite-based broad-spectrum degradation of biotoxins

Abstract

A significant research priority is developing a treatment method to effectively remove biotoxins commonly found in food production and the environment. A novel CoFe2O4@Ti3C2 MXene nanocomposite was fabricated by growing ferrite on MXene, and used nanocomposite to develop an oxidation-based treatment system with persulfate (PS). The ability of this system to broad-spectrum degrade mycotoxins and plant toxins was evaluated, and the catalytic and oxidation mechanisms were characterized. Co and Fe sites provide activation efficiency towards PS with adsorption energies of −21.15 and −19.63 eV, Ti site promote activation by inducing the reduction of Co and Fe. The production of reactive oxygen species via electron transfer contributed to the degradation of fourteen biotoxins with removal rates above 88%, and the frontier molecular orbital energy explained the difference in degradation extent. Electron-rich sites were predicted to help explain the degradation mechanism. The products were harmless to the ecology and human. The observations clearly indicate that Ferrite-MXene nanocomposites are viable options for broad-spectrum degradation of a wide variety of biotoxins.