Highly efficient adsorption and degradation of zearalenone by Fe single-atom N-doped porous carbon: Degradation mechanisms and pathways

The contamination of highly toxic zearalenone (ZEN) in food and the environment poses a serious threat to human safety. However, it is still challenging to establish an efficient, inexpensive and stable ZEN degradation technology. In this study, a Fe single-atom nitrogen-doped porous carbon (Fe-N-PC) was synthesized by high- temperature pyrolysis and used for efficient adsorption and degradation of ZEN. Fe-N-PC showed a high adsorption capacity (qm = 78.2 mg/g) for ZEN, and the Fe-N-PC/peroxymonosulfate (PMS) system could remove 99.39 % of ZEN, in which 1O2 played a major role in ZEN degradation. Furthermore, four degradation products of ZEN were identified and possible degradation pathways were hypothesized. For practical applications, Fe-N-PC was applied to remove ZEN from Coix seed extracts, and the results showed that Fe-N-PC was able to detoxify ZEN from Coix seed (92.32 %). Additionally, Fe-N-PC and ZEN degradation products showed low biological toxicity. In a word, the Fe-N-PC/PMS system was used for efficient adsorption and degradation of ZEN, and has been practically applied in complex food matrices, demonstrating Fe-N-PC may be a promising material for the removal of ZEN in the food field.