Cobalt nanoparticles supported on porous carbon nanofiber as efficient catalyst for heterogeneous activation of peroxymonosulfate towards the degradation of organic pollutants

In this work, cobalt-porous carbon nanofiber (Co-PCNF) was developed as a robust catalyst for the activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to eliminate organic pollutants in water. Carbamazepine (CBZ) was severed as the probe to examine the ability of Co-PCNF for activating PMS. The microporous honeycomb-like structure endowed Co-PCNF with excellent catalytic activity to activate PMS as evidenced by the rapid removal rate of CBZ (0.1269 min–1) in the existence of 0.1 g/L Co-PCNF and 0.25 g/L PMS. The degradation rate of CBZ can be maintained at 89 % after five runs and the leaching concentration of Co2+ can be neglected, suggesting the extraordinary stability of Co-PCNF reuse. Meanwhile, this system was used to degrade other organic contaminates and achieved satisfactory results, confirming the good universality of Co-PCNF/PMS system. Furthermore, the effects of catalyst and PMS dosage, pH, and co-existing ions on CBZ removal were discussed. Finally, radical identification results prove that SO4·–,·OH, 1O2, and O2·– are generated during the process of PMS activation, and a possible activation mechanism is proposed based on the aforementioned findings. This study can not only provide a method for organic pollutants elimination, but also offer a reference for designing robust heterogeneous PMS catalysts.