Recently, the research team led by Prof. KONG Lingtao from Institute of Solid State Physics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) successfully prepared a highly active single iron atom catalyst (Fe-ISAs@CN) which can activate H₂O₂ to generate free radicals, achieving rapid removal of sulfadiazine pollutants in aqueous. The relevant results were published in Journal of Colloid and Interface Science.

Sulfadiazine (SDZ), a kind of synthetic sulfadiazine antibiotic, is widely used in clinical and animal husbandry industries. However, due to its large-scale use and unqualified discharge of wastewater, more and more antibiotic residues are detected in the water environment. These antibiotics are still highly toxic at very low concentrations. Due to the stable chemical structure of sulfadiazine, it is difficult to solve the residual problem with conventional processing technology.

In this research, researchers synthesized the Fe(acac)₃@ZIF8 precursor using a solvothermal method, and then calcined at a high temperature of 930℃ to prepare a dodecahedral Fe-ISAs@CN catalyst with uniform morphology and good dispersion. Its rough surface and hollow structure provide a large specific surface area and expose a large number of adsorption sites.

The results of degradation experiments showed that 0.1g/L Fe-ISAs@CN could remove 91% of 20 mg/L SDZ within 60 minutes under acid pH conditions.

"We looked into the mechanism, and found those active sites could rapidly activate H₂O₂ in a short time," said YANG Wu, first author of the paper, "It produced a large number of active substances with stronger oxidizing energy, and the adsorption site could adsorb SDZ to assist the degradation process."

The surprising result proved the rapid degradation of sulfadiazine in the restricted range. Combined with the LC-MS data, they proposed the possible degradation pathways. After five cycles, the removal rate of sulfadiazine was still greater than 80%, and the loss of iron in the catalyst was rather small, indicating good stability of the material.

This work breaks through the traditional Fenton's stringent pH restrictions and provides new ideas for the rapid and deep removal of micro-pollutants in water by nanomaterials.

The above job is supported by projects and units such as the National Key R&D Program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Anhui Provincial Major Science and Technology Project.

Link to the paper: Enhanced Fenton-like degradation of sulfadiazine by single atom iron materials fixed on nitrogen-doped porous carbon

Fig. 1. (a) SEM images of Fe-ISAs@CN, (b) TEM image of Fe-ISAs@CN, (c) HAADF-SEM of Fe-ISAs@CN , (d, e and f) EDS Mapping. (Image by YANG Wu)

Fig. 2. The schematic of activation mechanism in the Fe-ISAs@CN /H2O2 system. (Image by YANG Wu)

Contact:

ZHAO Weiwei
Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (http://english.hf.cas.cn/)
Email: annyzhao@ipp.ac.cn