Derivatives of two-dimensional MXene-MOFs heterostructure for boosting peroxymonosulfate activation: Enhanced performance and synergistic mechanism

Integrating the merits of the substrate and active sites with the water matrix is of significant importance to design novel catalysts for peroxymonosulfate (PMS)-based advanced oxidation processes. A sandwich-like heterostructure catalyst (MCoO@Co-N-C) were fabricated via anchoring zero-dimensional metal-organic frameworks (MOFs)-derived CoO nanoparticles on two-dimensional Ti3C2Tx MXene nanosheets. Benefiting from the distinctive structure, the resultant catalysts achieved excellent decontamination performance under high salinity conditions (200 mM). Nearly 100% efficiency of bisphenol A (BPA) was degraded within 10 min only using 0.05 g L−1 catalyst and 0.1 g L−1 PMS, with exceptional high turnover frequency (TOF) value (8.64 min−1) which was 22.5 times higher than that of MOFs derived catalysts without MXene. A mediated-electron transfer mechanism is found to be conducive to the oxidation of BPA. This work provides a new approach to novel catalysts designed for removing trace organic contaminants (TrOCs) in saline water. [Display omitted] •A sandwich-like heterostructure catalyst (MCoO@Co-N-C) was fabricated.•MCoO@Co-N-C essentially integrates the merits of MXene-MOFs derivatives.•Excellent decontamination performance was achieved under high salinity conditions.•A mediated-electron transfer mechanism is proposed to elucidate the degradation of BPA.