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

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/Fe-0 hybrid catalyst (CFO/Fe@C) was in situ formed by a simple coprecipitation and calcination process. Fine intergrowth crystal CoFe2O4 and Fe-0 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 Fe-0 could only be formed with the presence of cobalt, possibly due to the increased reduction property resulted from the particle refinement. The as-formed Fe-0 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. (C) 2021 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.