Toward better understanding vacuum ultraviolet–iodide induced photolysis via hydrogen peroxide formation, iodine species change, and difluoroacetic acid degradation

Highlights

• UV/VUV/I^– induces substantial H₂O₂ and IO₃^– formation, but UV/I^– does not.

• Increasing DO level in water enhances H₂O₂ and iodate productions.

• Increasing pH decreases H₂O₂ and iodate formation and also photo-oxidation.

• The redox potentials of UV/VUV/I^– and UV/VUV changes with pH changes.

• The treatability of the UV/VUV/I^– process was stronger than UV/VUV at pH 11.0.

Abstract

Recently, a photochemical process induced by ultraviolet (UV), vacuum UV (VUV), and iodide (I^–) has gained attention for its robust potential for contaminant degradation. However, the mechanisms behind this process remain unclear because both oxidizing and reducing reactants are likely generated. To better understand this process, this study examined the evolutions of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and iodine species (i.e., iodide, iodate, and triiodide) during the UV/VUV/I^– process under varying pH and dissolved oxygen (DO) conditions. Results show that increasing DO in water enhanced H₂O₂ and iodate production, suggesting that high DO favors the formation of oxidizing species. In contrast, increasing pH (from 6.0 to 11.0) resulted in lower H₂O₂ and iodate formation, indicating that there was a decrease of oxidative capacity for the UV/VUV/I^– process. In addition, difluoroacetic acid (DFAA) was used as an exemplar contaminant to verify above observations. Although its degradation kinetics did not follow a constant trend as pH increases, the relative importance of mineralization appeared declining, suggesting that there was a redox transition from an oxidizing environment to a reducing environment as pH rises. The treatability of the UV/VUV/I^– process was stronger than UV/VUV under pH of 11.0, while UV/VUV process presented a better performance at pH lower than 11.0.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Vacuum ultraviolet / Hydrogen peroxide / Iodate / Hydroxyl radical / Redox transition

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Acknowledgements

We appreciate the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51978194) and the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Committee (No. JCYJ20180306171820685), as well as assistance from coworkers in the laboratory including Siyan Hao and Yuanxi Huang.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-021-1489-0 and is accessible for authorized users.

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