Confined heterogeneous catalysis by boron nitride-Co3O4 nanosheet cluster for peroxymonosulfate oxidation toward ranitidine removal

Peroxymonosulfate (PMS) induced advanced oxidation processes hold great promise for heterogeneous oxidation reactions. In this study, boron nitride (BN)-Co3O4 nanosheet cluster (NC) was fabricated to facilitate PMS activation with a nanoconfined heterogeneous catalysis effect for the rapid removal of ranitidine (RAN) under mild conditions. The obtained BN-Co3O4 NC cluster exhibited efficient catalysis performance with a 99.5% removal efficiency for ranitidine in 5 min, and meanwhile this novel catalyst could be applied under a wide pH range (pH: 3–9) with still high degradation efficiencies. The porous structure of BN-Co3O4 NC provided a large number of channels for RAN and PMS molecules to enter the catalyst’s inner confinement space, resulting in a remarkable enhancement of catalytic performance. The kinetic rate constant for RAN degradation by the BN-Co3O4 NC/PMS system with 3–33 fold less catalyst dosage is much larger (1.58–213 fold) compared with the state-of-the-art. PMS activation by BN-Co3O4 NC was mainly due to the pathway of reduction via active radicals. Density functional theory calculations specified that the concomitant active radicals such as ∙OH and SO4∙− were mainly derived from PMS activation via O-O bond cleavage. This work provides a new perspective for regulating the structure of Co3O4 and elucidating the mechanism of PMS-induced heterogeneous catalytic oxidation.