Human-Hair-Derived N, S-Doped Porous Carbon: An Enrichment and Degradation System for Wastewater Remediation in the Presence of Peroxymonosulfate

Biomass is a promising raw material for synthesizing heteroatom-doped carbon due to its cheap cost and easy availability. Herein, we fabricate nitrogen and sulfur codoped carbon (NSC) with extremely high specific surface areas (BET surface areas of 3015 m2/g) by employing human hair as the precursor. The graphitization degree, N/S doping content, and pore structures of NSC can be easily modulated by the heat treatment conditions. Besides, NSC obtained at 800 °C (NSC-800) even outperforms most traditional metal-based catalysts under the same conditions for BPA degradation. Influences of various operating parameters (NSC, Oxone, and BPA concentration) and the inorganic salts/humic acid (HA) on BPA degradation are comprehensively studied. Furthermore, quenching experiments and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements prove that 1O2 should be the main active species generated from PMS activation, and the contribution of •OH/SO4•– is very limited. This work is expected to arouse more interests about biomass-derived carbon for PMS activation and environmental remediation.