Co3O4-MnO2 nanoparticles moored on biochar as a catalyst for activation of peroxymonosulfate to efficiently degrade sulfonamide antibiotics

Abstract Co3O4-MnO2/BC, as an efficient activator of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for the decomposition of soluble sulfonamide antibiotics, was successfully obtained via anchoring Co3O4-MnO2 nanoparticles on rice straw biochar (BC). The results demonstrated that 25 mg/L sulfadiazine (SDZ) could be thoroughly destructed by a combination of PMS (1 mM) and Co3O4-MnO2/BC (0.1 g/L) within 10 min. The pseudo-first-order rate constant (k) of the SDZ degradation was high up to 0.482 min-1, which was much larger than those reported in previous literature. The superior stability of the catalyst was confirmed through 5 recycle runs with approximately 100% degradation of SDZ and less than