A critical review on the mechanisms of persulfate activation by iron-based materials: Clarifying some ambiguity and controversies

By Kunjie Hou, Zhoujie Pi, Fubing Yao, Bo Wu, Li He, Xiaoming Li, Dong-bo Wang, Haoran Dong, Qi Yang. 2020

168 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract Iron-based materials, as a series of effective persulfate (PS) activators, have been utilized extensively in PS-based advanced oxidation processes. However, there are some ambiguity cognitions and controversies surrounding the PS activation mechanisms by iron-based materials. For instance, does Fe(III) act as an electron donor or an electron receptor in an Fe(III) activating PS system? Is PS activation by nanoscale zero-valent iron and microscale zero-valent iron dominated by heterogeneous or homogeneous activation? To clarify these theories and resolve controversies, this review firstly summarizes the mechanisms of PS activation by conventional iron-based materials, and then thoroughly analyses the pathways of electron transport and the evolution of the activator constituent in the PS activation process. Finally, current knowledge gaps and future research prospects are identified. This review significantly improves our understanding of the PS activation by iron-based materials and provides useful insights to researchers in this field.

Subfields: Environmental Chemistry, Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment, Water Science and Technology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/83979444dc702824ad26c78e2cda00358a73ae1c