Activated persulfate by the synergistic electro-activation and bimetals cathode (MBC@CF) leads to highly efficient degradation of tetracycline

This study established an efficient coupled activation persulfate (PMS) process with a bimetallic modified biochar (MBC)-loaded cathode (MBC@CF) as the main body to remove tetracycline (TC) by electric field-enhanced catalytic cathodic activation of PMS (E-MBC@CF-PMS). The synergistic effect of electrocatalytic co-activation in the E-MBC@CF-PMS system (5.54) was two to three times higher than the electrically activated (2.39) / electro-catalytic (2.03) systems. The fundamental reason is that the presence of electric field enhances the efficient activation of PMS at sites like C = O and Metal-N-C (M−N−C) on the catalytic cathode surface and makes it easier for the vital element Mn+ in the ligand structure to regenerate. 1O2 generated during electrocatalytic co-activation and electron transfer was demonstrated to dominate in the efficient removal of pollutants using free radical quenching and electron spin resonance. This study offers a fresh idea to encourage the effective and practical activation of PMS.