Fe N C catalyst coated on carbon felt for efficient degradation of antibiotics via electro-Fenton process

In this study, a novel electro-Fenton (E-Fenton) system by using FeNC catalyst supported on carbon felt (CF/FeNC) as the cathodic catalyst and air as the oxygen source was developed. The CF/FeNC catalyst possessed a reticulated architecture with evenly distributed iron nanoparticles embedded in the N-rich carbon matrix, thus exposing abundant surface active sites to accelerate the electrochemical production of H2O2. Moreover, the Fe-Nx active sites on the surface of the CF/FeNC catalysts allowed the in-situ activation of H2O2 to produce large amount of hydroxyl radicals, resulting in the highly efficient degradation and mineralization of antibiotics in aqueous solution. Degradation of levofloxacin (LFX), sulfamethoxazole, meropenem and tetracycline reached 96.1 %, 99.7 %, 98.8 %, and 95.5 % in the CF/FeNC mediated E-Fenton systems within 40 min, respectively. The CF/FeNC catalyst also exhibited outstanding reusability and stability, retaining 94.8 % of the removal percentage for LFX after nine consecutive reaction cycles. This study provides a cost-effective approach for the in-situ fabrication of reticular nanostructure and sheds a new light of this novel nanocatalyst mediated EF reactions for the treatment of antibiotic wastewater.