Metal organic framework derived CuSx/C with plentiful S-vacancies for efficient heterogenous activation of peroxymonosulfate

Transition metal sulfides are often used as heterogeneous catalysts to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS), but insufficient active sites on catalysts surface limited the further application. Herein, a porous carbon-based copper sulfide (CuSx/C) nanosphere with plentiful sulfur vacancies was obtained and exhibited excellent catalytic activity for degrading pollutants (97.9 % for Rhodamine B (RhB) degradation within 6 min) in PMS system, which was significantly higher than that of CuS and CuSx (7.1 % and 13.8 %). The high catalytic performance of CuSx/C was mainly attributed to the existence of plentiful sulfur vacancies and the special porous morphology, thereby more Cu+/Cu2+ exposed on the CuSx/C surface, and further provided more active sites for the activation of PMS. This research provides a new strategy to construct high performance transition metal sulfides catalysts with sufficient sulfur vacancies for activating PMS.