Copper Slag‐Derived Cu 3 Fe 17 @C Alloy Enabling Efficient Peroxymonosulfate Activation for Levofloxacin Degradation via Cu‐Mediated Electron Transfer With Suppressed Metal Leaching

ABSTRACT Although alloy‐based materials present potential for peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation, metal ion leaching remains severely restricted during the pollution degradation process. Herein, the porous carbon‐supported Fe–Cu alloy derived from industrial copper slag was prepared to remove the organic pollutants from wastewater while inhibiting the Cu ions leaching. The optimized Cu 3 Fe 17 @C achieved an apparent rate constant of 1.68 min −1 , which is 6.7 and 33.6 times higher than that of pristine industrial copper slag (0.25 min −1 ) and precursor (0.05 min −1 ), respectively. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X‐ray absorption near‐edge spectra, and density functional theory calculations demonstrate that the Fe serves as an adsorb and activation site for PMS, whereas Cu acts as an electron mediator to accelerate charge transfer for preventing metal ion leaching. Overall, the work presents new insights into the mechanism by which Cu 3 Fe 17 @C activates PMS for levofloxacin (LEV) degradation and presents its application potential via the scalable experiments toward water purification.