This work aimed to investigate the effectiveness of ultraviolet (UV) radiation on the degradation of the antimicrobial triclocarban (TCC). We investigated the effects of several operational parameters, including solution pH, initial TCC concentration, photocatalyst TiO₂ loading, presence of natural organic matter, and most common anions in surface waters (e.g., bicarbonate, nitrate, and sulfate). The results showed that UV radiation was very effective for TCC photodegradation and that the photolysis followed pseudo-first-order kinetics. The TCC photolysis rate was pH dependent and favored at high pH. A higher TCC photolysis rate was observed by direct photolysis than TiO₂ photocatalysis. The presence of the inorganic ions bicarbonate, nitrate, and sulfate hindered TCC photolysis. Negative effects on TCC photolysis were also observed by the addition of humic acid due to competitive UV absorbance. The main degradation products of TCC were tentatively identified by gas chromatograph with mass spectrometer, and a possible degradation pathway of TCC was also proposed.

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The in-plane dynamic crushing behavior and energy absorption capacity of self-similar hierarchical honeycombs under different impact velocities are numerically studied using ANSYS/LS-DYNA. First, the hierarchical honeycomb models with uniform cell-wall thickness are constructed by replacing every three-edge structure nodes of a regular honeycomb with smaller self-similar hexagons of the same orientation. The respective influences of hierarchical parameters, bulk materials, and impact velocities on the macro-/micro-deformation behaviors, the dynamic strength, and the specific absorbed energy of hierarchical honeycombs are explored in detail. The results show that the crushing strengths and energy-absorbing capacities of honeycombs significantly improve when adding the hierarchy into conventional cellular structures. The variation of hierarchical parameter changes the local dynamic evolution of stress waves, which further results in different macro-/micro-deformation properties. Through the proper choice of hierarchical parameters and bulk materials, the optimal crushing strength and the maximum absorbing energy could be obtained.

The photolysis of the antimicrobial triclocarban (TCC) in aqueous systems under simulated sunlight irradiation was studied. The effects of several abiotic parameters, including solution pH, initial TCC concentration, presence of natural organic matter, and most common inorganic anions in surface waters, were investigated. The results show that the photolysis of TCC followed pseudo-first-order kinetics. The TCC photolysis rate constant increased with increasing solution pH and decreasing the initial TCC concentration. Compared with the TCC photolysis in pure water, the presence of aqueous bicarbonate, nitrate, humic acids, and its sodium salt decreased the TCC photolysis rate, but fulvic acid increased the TCC photolysis rate. The electron spin resonance and reactive oxygen species scavenging experiments indicated that TCC may undergo two different types of phototransformation reactions: direct photolysis and energy transfer to generate (1)O2. The main degradation products were tentatively identified by gas chromatography interfaced with mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and a possible degradation pathway was also proposed.

The degradation of azo dye direct sky blue 5B by sonication combined with zero-valent iron (US-Fe(0))was investigated and an evident synergistic effect was observed. The synergetic effect is mainly due to the increase of ()OH radical concentration from Fenton's reaction. The ()OH radical concentrations in sole sonication and US-Fe(0) process were detected by using terephthalic acid as a fluorescent probe and found that ()OH radicals were generated continuously during sonication and the production of ()OH radicals in US-Fe(0) process was much higher than that in sole sonication. The degradation of direct sky blue 5B followed a pseudo-first-order kinetics and the degradation rate constants were found to be 0.0206 and 0.169 min(-1) with sole sonication and US-Fe(0) process respectively. It was also found that the degradation ratio of direct sky blue 5B increased with the increase of zero-valent iron dosage and decrease of pH value of the dye aqueous solution. The degradation mechanism of direct sky blue 5B with US-Fe(0) process was discussed by the changes of UV-Vis spectrogram of the dye during degradation. The dramatic changes of UV spectra showed a disappearance of both azo and aromatic groups during the degradation.

The widely used sulfonylurea herbicides have caused negative effects on the environment and human beings. Electrochemical degradation has attracted much attention in the treatment of refractory organic compounds due to its advantage of producing no secondary pollution. Three kinds of IrO2-based dimensionally stable anodes (DSAs) were used to degrade nicosulfuron by a batch electrochemical process. The results showed that a well-distributed crack network was formed on the Ti/Ta2O5-IrO2 electrode and Ti/Ta2O5-SnO2-IrO2 electrode due to the different coefficients of thermal expansion between the Ti substrate and oxide coatings. The oxygen evolution potential (OEP) increased according to the order of Ti/RuO2-IrO2 < Ti/Ta2O5-SnO2-IrO2 < Ti/Ta2O5-IrO2. Among the three electrodes, the Ti/Ta2O5-IrO2 electrode showed the highest efficiency and was chosen as the experimental electrode. Single factor experiments were carried out to obtain the optimum electrolysis condition, shown as follows: currency intensity 0.8 A; electrode spacing 3 cm, electrolyte pH 3. Under the optimum conditions, the degradation of nicosulfuron followed first-order kinetics and was mainly due to indirect electrochemical oxidation. It was a typical diffusion-controlled electrochemical process. On the basis of the intermediate identified by high performance liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS), two possible degradation routes were proposed.

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