Bioinspired polydopamine-sheathed carbon nanotubes as environmentally safe, efficient, and durable adsorbents for organic pollutant capturing via hydrogen bonding

Understanding the active sites and associated reaction pathways of metal-free carbocatalysts in persulfate activation and pollutant degradation

“…The increasing environmental pollution with the fast development of various industries calls for efficient and low-cost methods to remove the toxic and refractory pollutants from water radically. 1–4 The current methods involve adsorption, 5–7 Fenton oxidation, 8,9 Fenton-like oxidation, 10,11 electro-Fenton, 12,13 photo-Fenton, 14,15 electrochemical oxidation, 16,17 photocatalysis 18–21 and others. 22–26 Among these methods, Fenton-like oxidation based on peroxomonosulfate (PMS) and peroxydisulfate (PDS) has attracted significant attention due to its long life spans, strong oxidation ability, ease of storing and transporting PMS/PDS relative to liquid H 2 O 2 , applicability to a diversity of refractory organic pollutants, and capability to withstand a wide pH range, which is superior to the Fenton process requiring H 2 O 2 as the reactant, thus causing the storage and delivery to be difficult.…”