Cobalt‐Enhanced Mass Transfer and Catalytic Production of Sulfate Radicals in MOF‐Derived CeO₂ • Co₃O₄ Nanoflowers for Efficient Degradation of Antibiotics

Abstract

Antibiotics discharge has been a critical issue as the abuse in clinical disease treatment and aquaculture industry. Advanced oxidation process (AOPs) is regarded as a promising approach to degrade organic pollutants from wastewater, however, the catalysts for AOPs always present low activities, and uncontrollable porosities, thus hindering their further wider applications. In this work, an aliovalent‐substitution strategy is employed in metal‐organic framework (MOF) precursors assembly, aiming to introduce Co(II/III) into Ce‐O clusters which could modify the structure of the clusters, then change the crystallization, enlarge the surface area, and regulate the morphology. The introduction of Co(II/III) also enlarges the pore size for mass transfer and enriches the active sites for the production of sulfate radicals (SO4• −) in MOF‐derived catalysts, leading to excellent performance in antibiotics removal. Significantly, the CeO2•Co3O4 nanoflowers could efficiently enhance the generation of sulfate radical SO4• − and promote the norfloxacin removal efficiency to 99% within 20 min. The CeO2•Co3O4 nanoflowers also present remarkable universality toward various antibiotics and organic pollutants. The aliovalent‐substitution strategy is anticipated to find wide use in the exploration of high‐performance MOF‐derived catalysts for various applications.

Toward Rational Design of Ordered Heterostructures for Energy and Environmental Sustainability: A Review

“…[ 106 ] For instance, calcination of Ce/Co–tetrakis(4‐carboxyphenyl)porphyrin frameworks (TCPP) MOFs under air flow creates CeO 2 /Co 3 O 4 heterostructure with nanoflowers‐like architecture inheriting from MOF. [ 107 ] Owing to the ordered architecture, the CeO 2 /Co 3 O 4 have abundant active sites for activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS), creating a large number of sulfate radicals (SO 4 • − ) for the degradation of antibiotics in environment ( Figure a). [ 108 ]…”

“…Reproduced with permission. [ 107 ] Copyright 2021, Wiley‐VCH. b) TEM and c,d) HRTEM images of CuO/MgO/Al 2 O 3 heterostructure.…”

Elucidating the Characteristics of Palladium-Anchored CeO2-Modified Hexagonal Nanosheet Co3O4 Catalysts for the Complete Oxidation of Volatile Organic Compounds

“…The catalytic performance of a single component catalyst is usually lower than that of a synergistic multicomponent catalyst. 28,29 CeO 2 has a high oxygen storage and release capacity. 30,31 However, the catalytic activity of CeO 2 is low owing to its poor oxidation efficiency at low temperatures.…”

“…Shen et al showed that the strength of the metal–oxygen bond determines the nature of the oxygen species produced and that the Co–O bond is weakened by controlling the pyrolysis temperature, which increases the number of reactive oxygen species. The catalytic performance of a single component catalyst is usually lower than that of a synergistic multicomponent catalyst. , CeO 2 has a high oxygen storage and release capacity. , However, the catalytic activity of CeO 2 is low owing to its poor oxidation efficiency at low temperatures. Some studies have suggested that introducing other active metals can optimize the valence state of electrons, resulting in a strong interaction between the two metal oxides, which is conducive to increasing the density of active sites.…”

Spiderweb-inspired all-weather CoS quantum dots confined in N-doped carbon for boosted sulfate radical evolution

“…1,2 Persulfate-based advanced oxidation processes (PS-AOPs) represent a powerful technique to generate various ROS. 3 Activation and cleavage of peroxide O-O bonds in peroxymonosulfate (PMS) through an energy transfer or reductive electron transfer process can generate reactive species. 4 However, the oxidation efficiency of AOP systems based on radical reaction pathways is very susceptible to the background interference of inorganic anions and organic pollutants in commercial water treatment technologies.…”