Topological defects strengthened nonradical oxidation performance of biochar catalyzed peroxydisulfate system

Xiaozeng Miao; Xiliang Chen; Wenhao Wu; Daohui Lin; Kun Yang

doi:10.1007/s42773-023-00243-9

Biochar ›› 2023, Vol. 5 ›› Issue (1) DOI: 10.1007/s42773-023-00243-9

Original Research

Topological defects strengthened nonradical oxidation performance of biochar catalyzed peroxydisulfate system

Xiaozeng Miao ¹^,³^,⁵
, Xiliang Chen ¹^,⁴
, Wenhao Wu ¹^,³^,⁵
, Daohui Lin ¹^,³^,⁵
, Kun Yang ¹^,²^,³^,⁵^,^e

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Abstract

Nonradical oxidation based on peroxydisulfate (PDS) activation has attracted increasing attention for selective degradation of organic pollutants. Herein, topological defects were introduced into biochar (BC) via removing N atoms in N-doped BC (NBC) in an attempt to improve the nonradical catalytic performance. Compared to the pristine BC and NBC, the introduction of topological defects could achieve up to 36.6- and 8.7-times catalytic activity enhancement, respectively. More importantly, it was found that the catalytic activity was dominated by topological defects, which was verified by the significant positive correlation between the pseudo-first-order rate constants and the content of topological defects. Theoretical calculations suggested that topological defects enhanced the electron-donating ability of BC by reducing the energy gap, which made the electrons transfer to PDS molecules more easily. As a result, holes were generated after the carbon defects lost electrons, and induced a nonradical oxidation process. Benefiting from the merits of nonradical oxidation, the developed BC/PDS system showed superior performance in removing electron-rich contaminants in the presence of inorganic anions and in the actual environments. This study not only provides a potential avenue for designing efficient biochar-based catalysts, but also advances the mechanism understanding of nonradical oxidation process induced by carbon defects.

Highlight

•	Biochar full of topological defects (NBC-T) was developed as excellent PDS catalyst for tetracycline degradation.
•	The catalytic activity of NBC-T was found to be positively correlated with the content of topological defects.
•	Topological defects with narrow energy gap facilitate electron-transfer thus promoting the generation of holes.

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Xiaozeng Miao, Xiliang Chen, Wenhao Wu, Daohui Lin, Kun Yang. Topological defects strengthened nonradical oxidation performance of biochar catalyzed peroxydisulfate system. Biochar, 2023, 5(1): DOI:10.1007/s42773-023-00243-9