Synergy of Cu-Mn Bimetals Under Nano-Confined Catalysis in a Membrane-Based Peroxymonosulfate System

Bimetallic synergistic activation of PMS in a nano-confined environment is attractive for water treatment. In this work, Cu-Mn oxides were loaded on PTFE membranes successfully for nano-confined PMS activation and sulfamethoxazole (SMX) degradation. The CuO@MnO2/PTFE membrane showed high stability, presenting above 97% removal of SMX after five cycles. DFT theoretical calculations suggested that confined Cu and Mn sites enhanced electronic coupling, which promoted the electronic rearrangement of the metal sites. Meanwhile, confined bimetal sites were more conducive to the PMS adsorption and activation. As a result, confined environment altered the contribution of ROSs. SO4•− (48.11%) and •OH (31.78%) had a dominant position in CuO@MnO2/PTFE membrane/PMS system, hence achieving the faster removal of SMX. The obtained results help to understand the mechanism of PMS activation with confined bimetals, which ultimately promotes the development and application of confined catalysis.