Roles of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the photocatalytic degradation of pentachlorophenol and its main toxic intermediates by TiO2/UV

Pentachlorophenol (PCP) caused water quality problems owe to its past widespread application and stability, harmful to human health. Photocatalysis, which was mainly involved in the reactive oxygen species (ROS) reaction, has large potential as water treatment process. However, the roles of ROS on the degradation process of PCP are not yet clearly defined. The main objectives of this work were to investigate the roles of ROS involved in the whole degradation of PCP and main toxic intermediates and elucidate the degradation mechanisms. Tetrachloro-1,4-benzo/hydroquinone (TCBQ/TCHQ), trichlorohydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone (OH-TrCBQ) and 2,5-dichloro-3,6-dihydroxy-1,4-benzoquinone (OH-DCBQ) were identified as main intermediates. The roles of generated ROS including OH, O2- and H2O2 were systematically explored for the degradation of PCP and its main intermediates using radical quenchers. The results showed that, OH played the dominant role for the degradation of PCP, O2- played more contributing roles for the degradation of TCBQ, H2O2 exhibited major contribution for the degradation of OH-TrCBQ and OH-DCBQ. These results offered us an insight into the degradation mechanism of PCP involved with ROS. It can also serve as the basis for controlling and blocking the generation of highly toxic substances through regulating the ROS generation during the PCP degradation.