A MOF-derived carbon-coated Co/CoO nanomaterial for highly efficient activation of PMS to degrade tetracycline

Abstract This study successfully fabricated a carbon-based material Co/CoO@NC catalyst derived from Co-MOF and applied it to activate PMS for the degradation of tetracycline. In the TC degradation experiments, Co/CoO@NC demonstrated remarkable catalytic performance. Under specific circumstances, only a small quantity of Co/CoO@NC was sufficient to activate PMS effectively, accomplishing the degradation of TC in a short time, with a degradation rate reaching up to 93.3%. The study on reaction kinetics revealed that the degradation process conformed to a first-order reaction kinetics model, and the reaction rate constant was 0.0360 min −1 . Additionally, the impacts of different reaction parameters such as PMS concentration, Co/CoO@NC dosage, solution pH value, and catalyst recycling times on the degradation effect were systematically examined. Meanwhile, the possible catalytic mechanism was explored through free radical capture experiments, which elucidated the essential roles of active species like SO 4 ·− , ·OH, and ·O 2 − in the TC degradation process. This study has provided more possibilities for the application of carbon-based catalysts derived from MOF precursors in the field of environmental remediation and demonstrated their great potential in treating wastewater containing tetracycline antibiotics.