Active Edge Sites Engineering on Amorphous Co-Mn Spinel-Based Oxides for Efficient Peroxymonosulfate Activation

Rational modulation of edge active sites in the Fenton-like reaction, utilizing defect engineering to form efficient catalytic activity centers, is a hot topic in the heterogeneous catalysis field, yet the applicability of large-scale manufacturing remains a severe challenge. Herein, a general wet-chemical approach is reported to large-scale prepare porous CoMn₂O₄ with abundant active edge sites for enhanced peroxymonosulfate (PMS)-based Fenton-like activation without using a template or heat treatment. The obtained Turing-type structure not only can be assembled into spatially restricted domain CoMn₂O₄ nanoreactors but also greatly facilitates the exposure of active edge sites with oxygen-rich vacancies in promoting PMS adsorption and interfacial charge transfer. The unique CoMn₂O₄/PMS system exhibited efficient and stable removal of organic pollutants with dominant nonradical (¹O₂) pathways and maintained a degradation rate of 99.8% within 5 min after seven-cycle runs. Moreover, the application prospect of the PMS-based Fenton-like process for large-scale wastewater treatment, including sulfadiazine (SD) antibiotics in real river water and real pharmaceutical wastewater, was demonstrated by the fixed-bed tower reactor and the in-situ floating water treatment device. This work will provide guidance for the development of low-cost and efficient heterogeneous PMS-activation catalysts through rational defect engineering.