Carbon-based peracetic acid activation towards advanced water purification

With the ever-increasing severity of ongoing water crisis, it is critical to develop cost-efficient and eco-friendly water treatment technologies. As an emerging oxidant in advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), peracetic acid (PAA) has garnered worldwide attention owing to superior stability, susceptible activation capability, and high efficiency for decontamination. A diversity of carbon-based catalysts have been employed to activate PAA and trigger different oxidation pathways, including organic radicals (CH 3 COOO • , CH 3 COO • , • CH 3 ), hydroxyl radical ( • OH) oxidation, singlet oxygen ( 1 O 2 ) oxidation, high-valent metal oxidation, and electron-transfer processes (ETP). This review is dedicated to summarizing the progress of up-to-date research on carbon-based PAA activation, with a focus on clarifying the arguments of the structure-selectivity mechanisms of generating different reactive species via carbocatalytic PAA activation. The outcomes will provide valuable guidance for oriented catalyst design to coordinate on-demand PAA oxidation pathways toward high-efficiency water remediation. • Reactive species and catalytic active sites in carbon-based PAA-AOPs are summarized. • Intrinsic structure-performance relations in PAA activation are clarified. • Key considerations for identifying reactive species are highlighted. • Challenges and prospects of carbon-based PAA-AOPs are proposed.