Synchronously enhanced dual oxidation pathways via engineered Co-N_x/Co₃O₄ for high-efficiency degradation of...

Developing efficient and eco-friendly technologies for treating the antibiotic wastewaters is crucial. At present, the catalysts with metal-nitrogen (M-N_x) coordination showed excellent Fenton-like performance but were always difficult to realize practical antibiotics degradation because of their complicated preparation methods and inferior stability. In this work, the Co-N_x configuration was facilely reconstructed on the surface of Co₃O₄ (Co-N_x/Co₃O₄), which exhibited superior catalytic activity and stability towards various antibiotics. DFT results indicated that stronger ETP oxidation will be triggered by the electron-donating pollutants since more electrons can be easily migrated from these pollutants to the Co-N_x/Co₃O₄/PMS complex. The Co-N_x/Co₃O₄/PMS system could maintain superior oxidation capacity, high catalytic stability and anti-interference due to (i) the strong nonradical ETP oxidation with superior degradation selectivity in Co-N_x/Co₃O₄/PMS system, and (ii) the synchronously enhanced radical oxidation with high populations of non-selective radicals generated via activating PMS by the Co-N_x/Co₃O₄. As a result, the synergies of synchronously enhanced dual oxidation pathways guaranteed the self-cleaning properties, maintaining 98 % of activity after eight cycles and stability across a wide pH range. Basically, these findings have significant implications for developing technologies for purifying antibiotic wastewater.