Facile preparation of nitrogen and FeSx codoped porous carbon with high catalytic activity under alkaline condition

Abstract

In this work, we reported the preparation of nitrogen and FeSx codoped porous carbon through hydrothermal treatment of FeCl3, thiourea and porous carbon. The degradation results demonstrated that PC-FeSx composite displayed high degradation efficiency towards organic dyes with excellent reusability. Moreover, the degradation efficiency under alkaline solution (pH = 11) is even better under acidic solution (pH = 3), indicating that other routes for generation free radicals were existed. Electron spin resonance (ESR) spin−trap technique was used to determine the free radical species and results demonstrated that both •OH and O2− are formed during Fenton reaction. Considered the facile operation procedure, low cost of reagents and high degradation efficiency, we believe this work should of broad interest for fabrication of multifunctional composites for environmental treatment.