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Efficient activation of peroxymonosulfate by Co-doped mesoporous CeO2 nanorods as a heterogeneous catalyst for phenol oxidation

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Abstract

Sulfate radical−based advanced oxidation processes have received considerable attentions in the remediation of organic pollutants due to their high oxidation ability. In this study, a novel Co3O4/CeO2 catalyst was fabricated and employed as a peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activator to generate SO4•− for phenol degradation. The Co3O4/CeO2 catalyst exhibited a good catalytic performance at a wide pH range of 3.4 to 10.8, and 100% phenol (20 mg/L) was removed within 50-min reaction under optimal conditions with 0.2 g/L catalyst and 2.0 g/L PMS at room temperature. The transformation products and total organic carbon during the degradation process were also determined. The quenching experiments and electron paramagnetic resonance spectra revealed that sulfate radical (SO4•−) rather than other species such as singlet oxygen (1O2) and hydroxyl radical (•OH) was primarily responsible for phenol degradation in the Co3O4/CeO2/PMS system, and a rational mechanism was proposed. Moreover, the recycling experiments as well as low cobalt leaching concentration manifested satisfactory reusability and stability. The effects of various inorganic anions and natural organic matter in real water matrix on phenol oxidation were further evaluated. We believe that the Co3O4/CeO2 composites have promising applications of PMS activation for the degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater treatment.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 21808243, U1662119 and 21776314), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2017YFB0306600), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant Nos.17CX02061).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Heavy Oil Processing, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao, 266580, People’s Republic of China

    Qiang Gao, Yuchen Cui, Shuaijun Wang, Bin Liu & Chenguang Liu

  2. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Qinghai Normal University, Xining, 810008, People’s Republic of China

    Qiang Gao

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  1. Qiang Gao
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  2. Yuchen Cui
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  3. Shuaijun Wang
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  4. Bin Liu
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  5. Chenguang Liu
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Contributions

Qiang Gao: Investigation; data curation; writing original draft

Yuchen Cui: Data curation; visualization; formal analysis

Shuaijun Wang: Investigation; visualization

Bin Liu: Conceptualization; writing—review and editing

Chenguang Liu: Funding acquisition; writing—review and editing

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Correspondence to Bin Liu or Chenguang Liu.

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Gao, Q., Cui, Y., Wang, S. et al. Efficient activation of peroxymonosulfate by Co-doped mesoporous CeO2 nanorods as a heterogeneous catalyst for phenol oxidation. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 27852–27863 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-12605-6

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