Efficient degradation of carbamazepine by easily recyclable microscaled CuFeO2 mediated heterogeneous activation of peroxymonosulfate.

Microscaled CuFeO2 particles (micro-CuFeO2) were rapidly prepared via a microwave-assisted hydrothermal method and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray powder diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It was found that the micro-CuFeO2 was of pure phase and a rhombohedral structure with size in the range of 2.8±0.6μm. The micro-CuFeO2 efficiently catalyzed the activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to generate sulfate radicals (SO4-), causing the fast degradation of carbamazepine (CBZ). The catalytic activity of micro-CuFeO2 was observed to be 6.9 and 25.3 times that of micro-Cu2O and micro-Fe2O3, respectively. The enhanced activity of micro-CuFeO2 for the activation of PMS was confirmed to be attributed to synergistic effect of surface bonded Cu(I) and Fe(III). Sulfate radical was the primary radical species responsible for the CBZ degradation. As a microscaled catalyst, micro-CuFeO2 can be easily recovered by gravity settlement and exhibited improved catalytic stability compared with micro-Cu2O during five successive degradation cycles. Oxidative degradation of CBZ by the couple of PMS/CuFeO2 was effective in the studied actual aqueous environmental systems.