Biomass Schiff base polymer-derived N-doped porous carbon embedded with CoO nanodots for adsorption and catalytic degradation of chlorophenol by peroxymonosulfate

[Display omitted] •A biomass-derived Schiff-base polymer was used to prepare CoO-N-C firstly.•CoO-N-C exhibits high 4-CP removal efficiency via adsorption and degradation.•1O2 was the dominant oxidative species in 4-CP degradation by CoO-N-C/PMS.•The introduction of CoO nanodots accelerates the electron transfer process for PMS activation. The development of highly active and multifunctional carbocatalysts modified with heteroatoms or metal species is crucial for practical environmental remediation applications. In this study, nitrogen-doped porous carbon embedded with highly dispersed CoO nanodots (CoO-N-C) was successfully prepared from a biomass-derived Schiff base polymer for the first time. The morphology analysis shows that CoO nanodots were embedded in the N doped carbon layer with size of ∼6.5 nm. CoO-N-C catalyst exhibited excellent 4-CP adsorption efficiency as well as excellent catalytic performance in the activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for 4-CP degradation. Total organic carbon (TOC) removal was close to 99.7% and involved a combination of adsorption and degradation processes. Singlet oxygen (1O2) was found to be the dominant oxidative species for 4-CP degradation. The underlying mechanism of these processes were elucidated, and it was found that the introduction of CoO nanodots in CoO-N-C not only enhanced radical catalytic processes, but also significantly enhanced the non-radical catalytic processes of PMS activation. This derived from the synergistic effect between the embedded CoO nanodots and doped nitrogen for the increase of electron density on carbon surface of catalyst, thereby accelerating the electron transfer process for PMS activation and improving the catalytic performance.