Efficient 1O2 production from H2O2 over lattice distortion controlled spinel ferrites

Iron-based materials are difficult to produce single oxygen (1O2) efficiently from H2O2. Herein, we demonstrate that 1O2 production from H2O2 can be manipulated by regulating the lattice distortion degrees of spinel ferrite through controlling the contents of Co and Ni in Co1-xNixFe2O4. Typically, NiFe2O4, which owns the lowest lattice distortion degree, can produce 1O2 as the dominated reactive oxygen species with ·O2- as the intermediate. Due to the production of 1O2, the NiFe2O4/H2O2 system removes bisphenol A (BPA) completely within 180 min but removes only ~ 4% of benzoic acid. In addition, the system demonstrates significant resistance to water matrix interference, as 50 mM of Cl-, NO3-, H2PO4-, and humic acid inhibited the BPA degradation by only ~0%, ~2%, ~40%, and ~3%, respectively. Our work may shed light for regulating the formation of 1O2 from H2O2 through the rational design of iron-based catalysts for Fenton-like reactions.