The fundamentals, progress, and perspectives of transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) applied in advanced oxidation processes

A series of environmental problems are posing a growing threat to the environment and human health due to the widespread use of various chemical substances. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been regarded as effective ways to oxidize pollutants for environmental remediation. However, the efficient removal of pollutants by AOPs are limited because of the low yield of reactive oxygen species (ROS). To expand the applications of AOPs in practical conditions, TMDs (transition-metal dichalcogenides)-based catalysts have been developed in recent years to further improve the performance of AOPs, displaying a great application prospect owing to their excellent catalytic performance and great stability. By introducing TMDs, the reaction efficiency could be greatly improved and the dosage of reactive materials could be sharply reduced. So, it is very urgent to summarize the research progress in this field to promote the development of this field. Here, we firstly summarize the recent progress of TMDs-based catalysts in different systems of AOPs, including Fenton systems, Fenton-like systems and persulfate (PS) systems. Additionally, we propose some effective strategies to further improve the performance of TMDs-based catalysts. Some systems have also been proposed in order to better adapt to industrial applications. Last but not least, we put forward the outlooks for opportunities and challenges in the future.