Electro-Fenton degradation of pefloxacin using MOFs derived Cu, N co-doped carbon as a nanocomposite catalyst

Abstract

Electro-Fenton (EF) can in-situ produce H2O2 and effectively activate H2O2 to generate powerful reactive species for the destruction of contaminants under acidic conditions, however, the production of iron-containing sludge and requirement of low working pH significantly hinder its practical application. Herein, a novel Cu, N co-doped carbon (Cu–N@C) with metal organic framework (MOF) as a precursor was constructed and adopted for the elimination of pefloxacin (PEF) in the heterogeneous electro-Fenton (HEF) process. PEF could be almost completely removed within 1 h and total organic carbon (TOC) removal efficiency was 48.57% within 6 h. Meanwhile, Cu–N@C had good repeatability and environmental adaptability, it can still maintain excellent catalytic performance after 10 cycles, and it exhibited satisfactory remediation performance in simulated water matrix. In addition, the HEF process catalyzed by Cu–N@C also showed satisfactory degradation effect on other organic pollutants including atrazine, methylene blue, and chlorotetracycline. Under the action of impressed current, the HEF system could generate H2O2 in-situ, and the active species could be generated in the redox cycle of Cu0/Cu1+/Cu2+. Electron paramagnetic resonance and quenching experiments confirmed that •OH was the dominant active species in the degradation of organic compounds. The degradation process of PEF was studied by mass spectrometry analysis of intermediate products. This study provided a simple method to prepare MOF-based electrocatalyst, which exhibits promising application potential for treatment wastewater.