Nano Cobalt-Loaded Porous Carbon Derived from Waste Plastic for Efficient Persulfate Activation and Tetracycline Degradation

The excessive utilization and emission of waste plastics have caused serious damage to the environment, and it is of great significance to explore high-value utilization methods for these waste plastics. To address this challenge, functional nano cobalt-loaded porous carbon materials (CoPC) with excellent antibiotic wastewater removal properties were prepared by one-step pyrolysis using waste PET plastics as a carbon source, a process described in this paper. Characterization revealed that the obtained CoPC-2 catalysts had a high degree of defects, a large specific surface area (343.41 m²/g), and an abundant pore structure. Degradation results displayed that CoPC-2 removed 87.93% of 20 mg/L tetracycline with a reaction rate constant of 0.0668 min^-1. Moreover, CoPC-2 exhibited excellent degradation performance for tetracycline over a wide range of pH levels (4-10) and in coexistence with multiple inorganic anions. Electron paramagnetic resonance and radical quenching experiments revealed that radicals (·OH, and SO₄·^-) and non-radicals (¹O₂) pathway participated in tetracycline degradation, with the non-radical pathway being dominant. This study not only offers promising prospects for resource utilization of waste plastics, but also provides novel approaches for the design of functional nanomaterials for antibiotic wastewater treatment.