Copper-oxygen synergistic electronic reconstruction on g-C3N4 for efficient non-radical catalysis for peroxydisulfate and peroxymonosulfate

Due to the selectivity and environmental tolerance of non-radical reaction reactions, they have emerged as a promising way to treat special water bodies. Herein, we proposed a new non-radical reaction system that used a Cu and O co-doped g-C3N4 catalyst (CuO-CN) activated by peroxydisulfate (PDS) or peroxymonosulfate (PMS). In CuO-CN, Cu and O atoms were introduced into the structure of graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) in an innovative configuration, resulting in a differentiated charge distribution around the Cu and O centres. The PDS/CuO-CN and PMS/CuO-CN systems could selectively degrade organic pollutants (e.g., bisphenol A, BPA) over a wide pH range (3-9), and the maximum BPA removal could reach 99%. For the PDS/CuO-CN system, the mechanism was hypothesized to involve the effective removal of BPA via electron transfer, and the PMS/CuO-CN system exploited the synergistic effect of singlet oxygen (O-1(2)) and electron transfer. This study describes a novel process for effective PMS or PDS activation by CuO-CN to efficiently degrade organic pollutants via a non-radical pathway.

Automated summary

The study introduces a novel non-radical reaction system utilizing Cu and O co-doped g-C3N4 catalyst (CuO-CN) activated by peroxydisulfate (PDS) or peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for efficient degradation of organic pollutants, achieving a high removal rate of bisphenol A (BPA) in a wide pH range. The mechanisms of BPA removal involve electron transfer for PDS/CuO-CN system and the synergistic effect of singlet oxygen (O-1(2)) and electron transfer for PMS/CuO-CN system.