1. Introduction
With the progress of economy and the development of science and technology, more and more organic pollutants produced by printing and dyeing, chemical industry, medicine and other industries are discharged into water, and the problem of organic pollution in water environment is becoming more and more serious [1–3]. TC is a tetracycline antibiotic with the molecular formula C
22H
24N
2O
8·HCl, which is widely used in livestock and poultry breeding and aquaculture industry. Its persistence in wastewater and soil contributes to the development of antibiotic resistance in aquatic environments and soils, posing significant risks to aquatic organisms and human health, and disrupting ecosystem balance [
4,
5]. Additionally, the non-degradability of antibiotics complicates their complete removal through conventional treatment methods, thereby exacerbating environmental pollution. This issue not only degrades water and soil quality directly but also impedes progress towards global Sustainable Development Goals related to clean water, healthy ecosystems, and human health. Consequently, identifying effective and eco-friendly strategies for the degradation of such organic pollutants is crucial for advancing sustainable development [
6].
Advanced oxidation technology (AOPs) has the advantages of strong oxidation ability, high free radical activity and mild reaction [
7], which can make up for the poor ability of traditional biochemical methods to treat some wastewater, so it has great advantages in the treatment of highly toxic and refractory wastewater such as printing and dyeing, pesticides, pharmaceutical wastewater and landfill leachate. The types of AOPs mainly include ozonation technology, photocatalysis technology, Fenton/Fenton-like technology and so on [
8,
9]. Among them, persulfate activation method has attracted much attention because of its wide range of adaptation, strong anti-interference ability and strong oxidation ability.
Persulfate generally includes persulfate and peroxysulphate, among which persulfate (PDS, S
2O
82–) and persulfate (PMS, HSO
5–) are the main sources of sulfate radical production [
10,
11]. Compared to PDS, PMS has a shorter bond length (1.46 Å) and therefore a higher O–O bond energy. The bond energy of PMS is approximately 140 kJ/mol (bond energy of PDS) and 213.3 kJ/mol (bond energy of H
2O
2) [
12,
13,
14]. In addition, PMS is more easily activated due to its asymmetric molecular structure and low dissociation energy [
15]. Persulfate has stable properties and weak ability to degrade organic pollutants at room temperature. It can be activated by photoactivation, zero-valent iron activation, thermal activation, microwave activation, electrochemical reduction and other methods to produce sulfate radical with stronger oxidation (SO
4‧–), which can effectively degrade organic matter [
16,
17]. Due to the characteristics of large surface area, high porosity and good conductivity, carbon materials can be used as both adsorbent and catalyst, and are widely used in activating persulfate to degrade organic matter. Studies have shown that because the surface of carbon material is inert, its electron transport efficiency and adsorption capacity for pollutants will be affected. Therefore, the modification of carbon materials has become a current research hotspot. The commonly used modification methods are nitrogen doping, sulfur doping and metal oxide doping. After modification, the oxygen-containing functional group on the surface may be the catalytic activity center [
12].
Metal-organic framework material (MOFs) is a new type of porous material with periodic network structure, which is obtained by self-assembly of metal ions and organic ligands. It has received extensive attention because of its permanent crystal structure, high specific surface area, high porosity and rich active sites [
18,
19].
According to the composition, MOFs can be divided into MOFs materials, MOFs composites and MOFs derived materials, in which MOFs derived materials are defined as micro/nano materials prepared by calcination, vulcanization, phosphating and other methods using MOFs materials as precursors [
20,
21,
22]. Taking advantage of the advantages of MOFs, the porous carbon nanomaterials derived from MOFs can be prepared based on it, which can greatly enhance the water stability of the materials [
23]. At the same time, the introduction of metal elements can increase the active sites of MOFs carbon materials and improve the physical and chemical properties of the materials [
24,
25]. The metal carbon materials derived from MOFs have many applications in advanced oxidation. According to the previous research, doping P, S, N and other heteroatoms in carbon materials can improve the catalytic activity of PMS/PDS for the removal of organic pollutants, because these heteroatoms can introduce more active sites, they enhance electron transfer [
26,
27]. Moreover, significant synergies may occur between the components of these heteroatomic carbon materials to enhance activation [
28,
29].
In this paper, a novel and highly efficient heterogeneous persulfate system is designed by developing carbon materials derived from NH2-MIL-101(Fe). This approach offers a sustainable technological solution for addressing organic pollutant contamination in water. NH
2-MIL-101(Fe), a metal-organic framework (MOF) material, was used as the base, into which a polymer was introduced. A one-step carbonization method was employed to prepare the P, S-doped Fe-CNs-P/S composite material. After modification, this material effectively catalyzes the activation of persulfate, leading to the degradation of organic pollutants. The doped materials provided stable P and S sources for catalyst [
30]. The synthesized materials were characterized, and then their properties were evaluated by organic pollutant degradation experiments. And explore the influence of different factors on the degradation of TC by Fe-CNs-P/S activated PMS, verify the stability of the catalyst, and explore the possible degradation mechanism through free radical capture experiment and degraded XPS. The innovation of this research is the development of a highly catalytic and renewable material that degrades pollutants while reducing the secondary pollution problems caused by traditional treatment methods.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Materials
Ferric chloride hexahydrate (FeCl3 6H2O), N-dimethylformamide (DMF), hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene, 4-sulfonyldiphenol, triethylamine, acetone, furfuryl alcohol, anhydrous ethanol, anhydrous methanol was obtained from Sinopharm Group Chemical reagent Co., Ltd., China. 2-aminoterephthalic acid (NH2-H2BDC), tert-butanol, trichloromethane, potassium peroxomonosulfate was procured from Shanghai Aladdin Biochemical Technology Co., Ltd., China. tetracycline hydrochloride was procured from Beijing Biosharp Biotechnology Co., Ltd., China. The purity of all the chemical reagents were analytical grade, and water used in the experiment is deionized water.
2.2. Preparation of NH2-MIL-101 (Fe)
Add 15 mL DMF to the bladder, dissolve 224.6 mg NH2-H2BDC and 675 mg FeCl3‧6H2O in DMF, and completely dissolve the above solids by ultrasound. Then the solution was transferred to an autoclave, the temperature was raised to 110 ℃, and maintained for 24 hours. After cooling to room temperature, the solution was put into a centrifuge. After centrifugation at 8000 rpm and time 10 min, the brown-black powder was obtained. The brown-black powder was soaked in DMF for 14 hours, filtered and then soaked in ethanol for 24 hours, and finally dried in a vacuum oven to obtain NH2-MIL-101 (Fe).
2.3. Preparation of NH2-MIL-101 (Fe) @ PZS
A certain quality of NH2-MIL-101 (Fe) dissolved in 80 mL methanol was defined as X solution, while a certain quality of hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene and 4-4-sulfonyldiphenol dissolved in 20 mL methanol were defined as Y solution. X and Y were mixed, named PZS, 5 min, then added 1 mL triethylamine, stirred for 18 h, washed three times with methanol, dried in an oven at 60 ℃, and calcined in a tubular furnace at 700 ℃. Finally, NH2-MIL-101 (Fe) @ PZS was obtained after washing and drying with water and alcohol.
The specific preparation process of NH
2-MIL-101 (Fe) @ PZS is shown in
Figure 1.
2.4. Preparation of Fe-CNs-P/S
NH2-MIL-101 (Fe) @ PZS was put into a tube furnace, heated to 700 ℃ at a rate of 5 ℃/min under the protection of Ar atmosphere, maintained for 3 hours, then cooled to normal temperature. After washing with water and alcohol for three times, the final product Fe-CNs-P/S was obtained by drying moisture in a vacuum drying oven.
Under the same other preparation conditions, the degradation rates of Fe-CNs-P/S prepared with different ratios of P to S, NH
2-MIL-101 (Fe), hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene and 4maginyl-4-sulfonyldiphenol were studied respectively. All the experimental dosage and definition names are shown in
Table 1. The final product was added to the TC solution of 20 mg/L to degrade 30 min, and the best degrader was selected according to the degradation rate, which was used in the experiment of influencing factors of TC degradation.
2.5. Material Characterization
A Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR, Nicolet 6700, Thermo Fischel, USA) was used to characterize the functional groups of the samples in the wavelength range of 400–4000 cm−1.
A scanning electron microscope (SEM, TalOs F200X, Thermo Fischel, USA) was used to observe the surface micromorphology of the samples, which were sprayed with gold at an acceleration voltage of 20 kV.
An X-ray diffractometer (XRD, D/MAX-RB, Japan) was used to analyze the aggregated structure of the samples in the 2θ scanning range of 10°–80° with a scanning speed of 0.02°. The test was operated with Cu-Kα radiation at a voltage of 40 kV and a current of 50 mA.
An X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS, ESCALABⅡ, Thermo Fischel, USA) was used to analyze chemical compositions and metal valence states, with the binding energy of C1s (284.8 eV) as the control standard and Al Ka as the X-ray source.
A specific surface area porosity analyzer (BET, ASAP2020 HD88, Mack Instruments, USA) was used to measure the specific surface area and aperture. The material was heat treated at 120℃ under nitrogen atmosphere for 2h, and then the sample was subjected to nitrogen adsorption and desorption under liquid nitrogen environment to measure the specific surface area and aperture.
A Raman spectrometer (Raman, Renishaw 2000, China) was used to analyze the surface molecular structure, with a spectral scanning range of 800–3000 cm-1.
2.6. Degradation of TC
The 5 mg catalyst was dissolved in the TC solution of 100 mL 20 mg/L, the 30 min was stirred by magnetic force, and remove 3mL from it for centrifugation. The supernatant was placed at the ultraviolet spectrophotometer 356 nm to determine the absorbance.
20 mg PMS was added to TC solution, sampled at the same time interval, and its absorbance was measured after centrifugation. The degradation rate was determined as follows:
where η is the degradation rate; C
0 is the initial concentration; C
t is the concentration at t time.
In the experiment of studying the effect of initial pH on degradation, 1 mol/L NaOH and 1 mol/L HNO3 were used to adjust pH value. In the catalyst cycle experiment, the catalyst was centrifuged, washed with water, washed with alcohol and dried.
4. Conclusions
In this paper, Fe-CNs-P/S was successfully prepared by solvothermal method, organic polymerization and one-step carbonization method. The phase composition, microstructure and surface characteristics of Fe-CNs-P/S were characterized by XRD, SEM, XPS and other characterization methods. The prepared Fe-CNs-P/S was used to activate PMS to degrade TC in the simulated wastewater, and the effects of different factors on the degradation of TC by this system were discussed. Fe-CNs-P/S-5 showed high catalytic activity in the degradation of TC in Fe-CNs-P/S/PMS system, and under the optimum conditions (Fe-CNs-P/S-5:0.05 g/L). Fe-CNs-P/S-5 can degrade 98.11% of 20 mg/L TC at 30 min, which is better than other mass ratio catalysts for TC degradation under the same conditions. Fe-CNs-P/S-5/PMS system has good catalytic performance and good stability in a wide range of pH value. Through capture experiments, it can be inferred that the main free radical in the reaction system is 1O2, and the possible mechanism of TC degradation by Fe-CNs-P/S-5/PMS system is given. In conclusion, this paper provides an efficient and universal route for the treatment of organic pollutants by introducing sustainable materials based on Fe-CNs-P/S. This material has good universality and renewability, and does not produce secondary pollution in the process of use. It is expected to help reduce pollutant emissions in future large-scale industrial applications, improve resource utilization efficiency, and promote the sustainable development of environmental governance.
Figure 1.
The flowchart of the synthesis of Fe-CNs-P/S.
Figure 1.
The flowchart of the synthesis of Fe-CNs-P/S.
Figure 2.
(a) XRD pattern of the Fe-CNs-P/S-5, (b) XRD patterns of the prepared Fe-CNs-P/S-3, Fe-CNs-P/S-4, Fe-CNs-P/S-5, Fe-CNs-P/S-6 and Fe-CNs-P/S-7.
Figure 2.
(a) XRD pattern of the Fe-CNs-P/S-5, (b) XRD patterns of the prepared Fe-CNs-P/S-3, Fe-CNs-P/S-4, Fe-CNs-P/S-5, Fe-CNs-P/S-6 and Fe-CNs-P/S-7.
Figure 3.
(a-c) SEM images of Fe-CNs-P/S-5, (d-i) elemental mapping of the prepared Fe-CNs-P/S-5 sample.
Figure 3.
(a-c) SEM images of Fe-CNs-P/S-5, (d-i) elemental mapping of the prepared Fe-CNs-P/S-5 sample.
Figure 4.
(a-f) TEM images of Fe-CNs-P/S-5 with different magnifications.
Figure 4.
(a-f) TEM images of Fe-CNs-P/S-5 with different magnifications.
Figure 5.
XPS spectra of the Fe-CNs-P/S-5 sample: (a) full spectrum, (b) C 1s, (c) Fe 2p , (d) P 2p and (e) S 2p.
Figure 5.
XPS spectra of the Fe-CNs-P/S-5 sample: (a) full spectrum, (b) C 1s, (c) Fe 2p , (d) P 2p and (e) S 2p.
Figure 6.
FTIR spectrum of the Fe-CNs-P/S-5 sample.
Figure 6.
FTIR spectrum of the Fe-CNs-P/S-5 sample.
Figure 7.
N2 adsorption/desorption isotherm of Fe-CNs-P/S-5.
Figure 7.
N2 adsorption/desorption isotherm of Fe-CNs-P/S-5.
Figure 8.
Raman spectra of the Fe-CNs-P/S-3, Fe-CNs-P/S-4, Fe-CNs-P/S-5, Fe-CNs-P/S-6 and Fe-CNs-P/S-7.
Figure 8.
Raman spectra of the Fe-CNs-P/S-3, Fe-CNs-P/S-4, Fe-CNs-P/S-5, Fe-CNs-P/S-6 and Fe-CNs-P/S-7.
Figure 9.
(a) Degradation efficiency of TC by Fe-CNs-P/S activated PMS and (b) Degradation efficiency of TC by Fe-CNs-P/S-5 activated PMS/PDS.
Figure 9.
(a) Degradation efficiency of TC by Fe-CNs-P/S activated PMS and (b) Degradation efficiency of TC by Fe-CNs-P/S-5 activated PMS/PDS.
Figure 10.
Effect of catalyst dosage on TC degradation by the Fe-CNs-P/S-5/PMS system.
Figure 10.
Effect of catalyst dosage on TC degradation by the Fe-CNs-P/S-5/PMS system.
Figure 11.
Effect of PMS concentration on TC degradation by the Fe-CNs-P/S-5/PMS system.
Figure 11.
Effect of PMS concentration on TC degradation by the Fe-CNs-P/S-5/PMS system.
Figure 12.
Effects of initial concentration on the degradation of TC.
Figure 12.
Effects of initial concentration on the degradation of TC.
Figure 13.
Effect of initial pH of solution on degradation of TC.
Figure 13.
Effect of initial pH of solution on degradation of TC.
Figure 14.
Effects of different anions on the degradation of TC in Fe-CNs-P/S-5/PMS system: (a) Cl–,(b) CO32–,(c) HCO3–,(d) HPO42–,(e) SO42–.
Figure 14.
Effects of different anions on the degradation of TC in Fe-CNs-P/S-5/PMS system: (a) Cl–,(b) CO32–,(c) HCO3–,(d) HPO42–,(e) SO42–.
Figure 15.
Recycle efficiency for TC degradation by the Fe-CNs-P/S-5/PMS system.
Figure 15.
Recycle efficiency for TC degradation by the Fe-CNs-P/S-5/PMS system.
Figure 16.
Degradation of different pollutants by the Fe-CNs-P/S-5/PMS system.
Figure 16.
Degradation of different pollutants by the Fe-CNs-P/S-5/PMS system.
Figure 17.
Effects of 10 mM different radical scavengers and (b) 100 mM different radical scavengers on the degradation of TC in the Fe-CNs-P/S-5/PMS system.
Figure 17.
Effects of 10 mM different radical scavengers and (b) 100 mM different radical scavengers on the degradation of TC in the Fe-CNs-P/S-5/PMS system.
Figure 18.
XPS spectra of Fe-CNs-P/S-5 after degradation (a) C 1s, (b) Fe 2p,(c) P 2p and (d) S 2p.
Figure 18.
XPS spectra of Fe-CNs-P/S-5 after degradation (a) C 1s, (b) Fe 2p,(c) P 2p and (d) S 2p.
Table 1.
List of chemical regents used in the experiments.
Table 1.
List of chemical regents used in the experiments.
P/S Doping amount |
NH2-MIL-101(Fe) |
Hexachlorocyclotriphosphazene |
4,4-sulfonyl diphenol |
Final product name |
30% |
0.6825 g |
0.09 g |
0.2025 g |
Fe-CNs-P/S-3 |
40% |
0.585 g |
0.12 g |
0.27 g |
Fe-CNs-P/S-4 |
50% |
0.4875 g |
0.15 g |
0.3375 g |
Fe-CNs-P/S-5 |
60% |
0.39 g |
0.18 g |
0.405 g |
Fe-CNs-P/S-6 |
70% |
0.2925 g |
0.21 g |
0.4725 g |
Fe-CNs-P/S-7 |