Sulfamethoxazole degradation via peroxydisulfate activation over WO3/MIL-100(Fe) under low power LED visible light

Series of WO3/MIL-100(Fe) (WxMy) composites were synthesized via the mild solvent evaporation method, which were used as a heterogeneous sulfate radical-advanced oxidation process (SR-AOP) catalyst for sulfamethoxazole (SMX) degradation. The as-prepared W4M1 (0.25 g/L) demonstrated excellent SR-AOP catalysis activity with 100 % SMX (5 mg/L) degradation efficiency within 15 min under visible light. The influences of initial pH, peroxydisulfate (PDS) concentration, catalyst dosage, and inorganic anions as well as the degradation pathway were investigated. The effective transfer of the photo-generated electrons from WO3 to MIL-100(Fe) via Z-scheme mechanism contributed to the outstanding SR-AOP catalysis activity of W4M1, which were affirmed by both the active species capture experiments and electron spin resonance (ESR) experiments. Moreover, W4M1 displayed excellent stability and reusability throughout five runs’ cycling experiments. This work offered a new SR-AOP catalyst alteration to eliminate emerging pollutant under visible light, which might provide insight clue for catalyst design and fabrication.