Peroxymonosulfate activation with Co3O4 by microstructure engineering for efficient degradation of tetracycline: Efficiency, mechanism and stability.

In recent years, advanced oxidation technologies employ peroxynitrite activation have exhibited exceptional effectiveness in eliminating various emerging contaminants. In this study, different calcination temperatures were used to derive Co 3 O 4 nanospheres with varying surface morphologies. This method effectively addresses the issue of high cost associated with high-performance catalyst synthesis or poor catalytic performance of low-cost catalysts. The active species like O 2 •−, •OH, SO 4 •−, 1O 2 played significant role in TC degradation and 1O 2 was the dominant reactive oxygen species (ROS). The study also proposed possible degradation pathways based on the 15 intermediates identified through HPLC-MS. Furthermore, the developmental toxicity of the identified intermediates was evaluated using a quantitative conformational relationship prediction method. This paper delves into the reaction mechanism of Co 3 O 4 nanospheres in the activation of PMS and examines the impact of surface morphology on their catalytic performance, providing a new approach to developing a persulfate catalyst that is cost-effective and has high catalytic performance, with a simple synthesis step. [Display omitted] • Different surface morphologies of Co 3 O 4 are synthesized at various temperatures. • Co-T produced at 300 °C has the best catalytic performance. • The mechanism of Co-T enhanced degradation of TC by PMS was discussed. • The possible TC degradation pathways are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]