High-efficiency degradation of quinclorac via peroxymonosulfate activated by N-doped CoFe2O4/Fe0@CEDTA hybrid catalyst

Abstract

Exploring catalyst materials which are advancing, recyclable and with high catalytic performances to remove persistent organic pollutants such as Quinclorac (QNC) is important. In this work, a novel N-doped carbon support CoFe2O4/Fe0 hybrid catalyst (CFO/Fe@C) was in situ formed by a simple co-precipitation and calcination process. Fine intergrowth crystal CoFe2O4 and Fe0 were uniformly dispersed on the N-doped porous carbon that derived from the raw material Ethylene Diamine Tetraacetic Acid (EDTA), which also provided chelating effect to prevent the agglomeration of the metals. Interestingly, the Fe0 could only be formed with the presence of cobalt, possibly due to the increased reduction property resulted from the particle refinement. The as-formed Fe0 could not only activate the peroxymonosulfate (PMS) but also reduce the Co3+, resulting in a synergistic impact to remarkably enhance the degradation performance. Besides, the N-doped porous carbon can also benefit the degradation of pollutant by strengthening the electron transfer. A good degradation efficiency of QNC was obtained in CFO/Fe@C-PMS system and most of the QNC had been degraded to carbon dioxide, water and other small molecular organisms. The removal rate remained over 70% after four reuses and the material could be easily recovered from the solution due to the good magnetic properties. Therefore, the as-prepared CFO/Fe@C catalyst should be an ideal catalyst for the removal of organic pollutants.