Iron and sulfur co-doped monolithic carbon foam for tetracycline hydrochloride degradation via peroxymonosulfate activation

Tetracycline hydrochloride has emerged as a potential threat in water pollution treatment due to its widespread use as a common antibiotic. Fe-S-CMF catalysts were prepared via one-step pyrolysis using carbon monolithic foam as the carrier in this study. The addition of thiourea strengthened the stability of the carbon skeleton to some extent. XRD, Raman, SEM, TEM, and XPS techniques were employed to characterize the physicochemical properties of Fe-S-CMF, further confirming its successful preparation. The influence of catalyst doping amount, temperature, pH, anions, and other factors on the TC degradation was investigated. The degradation rate of tetracycline reached 82.1 %, which was attributed to free radical pathways (SO4 center dot-, center dot OH) and non-free radical pathways (1O2) under optimal conditions. The ion leaching of Fe-S-CMF catalysts was detected, with iron ion leaching maintained at a relatively low level. Moreover, the degradation pathways of TC were deduced based on the results of LC-MS. Additionally, the phytotoxicity test showed that the toxicity of the degradation solution was much lower than that of the initial solution. Therefore, the Fe-S-CMF catalyst exhibits good catalytic activity and facile recycling, providing an effective method with excellent PMS activation for practical wastewater treatment applications.