Heterogeneous fenton-like degradation of amoxicillin using MOF-derived Fe0 embedded in mesoporous carbon as an effective catalyst

The presence of the antibiotics in wastewater and drinking water is causing increasing concern around the world, thereby an advanced sustainable technology needs to be developed to remove the antibiotics from water resources. In this study, Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) derived zero-valent iron embedded in the carbon matrix structure named FMC is prepared by a direct pyrolysis of Fe-based metal organic framework. FMC is used as a heterogeneous Fenton-like catalyst to degrade amoxicillin (AMX) based on the oxidation and degradation reactions. FMC had the strengthened catalytic performance for amoxicillin elimination with high mineralization efficiency (60.41%), which was evaluated over various experimental conditions. The role of reaction in FMC/H2O2 system was identified, suggesting amoxicillin was eliminated by the attack of hydroxyls radicals (·OH). The carbon structures can facilitate the passage of electrons and boost the contact of zero valent iron and Fe2+ species on FMC surface with H2O2, resulting in the accelerated production of ·OH and high removal efficiency of amoxicillin. By defining reactive oxidizing species and degradation intermediates, the plausible degradation pathways of amoxicillin have been inferred. This study revealed that FMC/H2O2 system has high AMX degradation efficiency and decent recyclability.