Photo-assisted bismuth ferrite/manganese dioxide/nickel foam composites activating PMS for degradation of enrofloxacin in water

• A novel BFO/MnO 2 @NF was prepared to achieve photo-assisted PMS activation. • Photogenerated electrons were consumed in PMS activation to reduce metal ion. • Four possible degradation pathways of ENR in the coupled system were inferred. • BFO/MnO 2 @NF showed a great reusability with distinct reduction of metal leaching. In order to further expand the practical applicability of nano photo-activators, a low-toxicity bismuth ferrite mixture (BFO) combined with MnO 2 were used to construct nano-catalyst@nickel foam (NF) composite material. A variety of characterization methods were applied to determine the physical, chemical and photoelectrochemical properties of BFO/MnO 2 @NF. Subsequently, the performance of BFO/MnO 2 @NF/PMS/Light degradation system was evaluated through the enrofloxacin (ENR) removal experiment. And 87.5% of ENR could achieve removal with 4 cm 2 of BFO/MnO 2 (3:1)@NF and 0.6 g L −1 of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) at the pH of 6.86 in the coupled system. In addition, during the ENR degradation process, the leaching percentages of Bi, Fe, and Mn ions in the BFO/MnO 2 nano powder and BFO/MnO 2 @ NF were 0.041%, 0.29%, 0.12% and 0.035%, 0.068%, 0.084% (0.035% of Ni dissolution), respectively. It could be seen that the leaching concentration of metal ions during the reaction of the nickel foam-supported composite material was much lower than that of the corresponding nano-catalysts powder. Furthermore, the coupled system maintained excellent catalytic performance even after 8 running cycles. Thus, the BFO/MnO 2 @NF was easy to recover from the system and met the needs of practical applications, which would provide more opportunities for the design of nano-catalysts and practical applications in wastewater treatment processes.