Surface-active MnFeO@C cubes as enhanced peroxymonosulfate activators for efficient degradation of bisphenol A

Abstract Developing highly-effective catalysts through a facile method for activating peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to degrade recalcitrant pollutants is highly desirable. In this work, porous carbon-coated iron-manganese oxides (MnFeO@C) was facilely synthesized. The porous carbon film on the surface of MnFeO@C was beneficial to adsorption of bisphenol A (BPA) and flow of electrons. The catalytic degradation performance toward BPA was significantly improved with the increase of surface roughness and porosity of MnFeO@C after calcination. In particular, MnFeO@C derived at 300 °C (MnFeO@C-300) exhibited the highest degradation rate benefiting from the existence of Mn2O3. More than 95% BPA could be removed in 30 min by MnFeO@C-300/PMS system and remained efficient in a wide pH range from 3.0 to 10.0, especially in alkaline conditions. The intermediates of BPA degradation were identified and the degradation pathways involved hydroxyl oxidation and benzene ring-opening were proposed based on GC-MS results. The removal rate of BPA can maintain more than 80% following five cycles. Thus, the as-prepared MnFeO@C-300 composites are available to serve as efficient and eco-friendly catalysts for advanced catalytic oxidation of recalcitrant pollutants.