Effects of Cu(II) and humic acid on atrazine photodegradation

This work was designed to explore the characteristics of photodegradation of herbicides in the copper-polluted water body. The results showed that Cu(II) alone could induce a photo Fenton-like reaction to enhance the degradation of atrazine, in which hydroxyl radical (center dot OH) was a main active species. Humic acids restrained atrazine degradation, nevertheless, when introducing Cu(II), the photodegradation was accelerated, in which singlet oxygen (O-I(2)) replaced center dot OH acting as the prevailing species. A feasible mechanism for the photochemical process was also proposed, which is helpful for better understanding the environmental photochemistry of atrazine in the copper-polluted water.