Enhanced superoxide radical production for ofloxacin removal via persulfate activation with Cu-Fe oxide

By Qing Wang, Beibei Wang, Yuan Ma, Shengtao Xing. Chemical Engineering Journal, 2018

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Abstract Cu-Fe composite oxides with different Cu:Fe ratios were synthesized by a hydrothermal method and investigated as a heterogeneous catalyst for persulfate activation. The obtained samples exhibited much higher activity than CuFe2O4 for the degradation and mineralization of ofloxacin with persulfate, and the optimized Cu:Fe ratio was 1:1 (CuFe1). The results of catalyst characterization and electron paramagnetic resonance analysis indicate that the activities of the catalysts for ofloxacin degradation and superoxide radical ( O2−) production are highly positively correlated with their redox ability. The removal efficiencies of ofloxacin in the presence of different scavengers further demonstrate that O2− is the dominant reactive species in this process, which is quite different from previous studies. It is suggested that CuFe1 with higher oxidation ability could weaken the S O bond of adsorbed persulfate, thus promoting the decomposition persulfate into O2−. Finally, the possible degradation pathway of ofloxacin was proposed according to the liquid chromatography−mass spectrometry result.

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

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/9222aacec2c75ef0361e8a8d4a4fb33aea461c2c