Surface hydroxyl-riched ultrasmall monodispersed CuO nanoparticles for rapid degradation of tetracycline by peroxymonosulfate activation

Abstract

The activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) is viewed as a highly prospective strategy to address antibiotic abuse issues. In this work, surface hydroxyl-riched ultrasmall (3–5 nm) monodispersed CuO nanoparticles (NPs) are firstly applied in the degradation of tetracycline (TC) by PMS activation. The ultrasmall CuO NPs facilitate rapid degradation of TC, achieving approximately 90 % degradation within 1 min and 97 % degradation within 15 min. Furthermore, the degradation efficiency of TC remains 90 % after five cycles. The CuO/PMS system not only exhibits outstanding anti-interference properties toward various anions and organics, and high catalytic activity in a wide pH range, but also could efficiently degrade other common organic pollutants, possessing higher practical application value. Mechanistic experiments elucidated that singlet oxygen (1O2) is the main active substance for TC degradation. This work provides a newly developed and highly effective catalyst for rapid removal of persistent organic contaminants from wastewater by the activation of PMS.