Fabrication of magnetic cobalt‑iron composite moored on carbon derived from cigarette butts (CoFe@CCB) for peroxymonosulfate activation to efficiently degrade Rhodamine B

In this study, the magnetic cobalt‑iron composite loaded on carbon derived from cigarette butts (CoFe@CCB) was successfully prepared for the first time and applied for the activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to degrade Rhodamine B (RhB). The results indicated that approximately 99 % of RhB (50 mg/L) was degraded by CoFe@CCB (0.04 g/L) activated PMS (0.3 mM) within 15 min. The reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the reaction system were identified to be OH, SO4− and 1O2, which responsible for the rapid degradation of RhB. It was also found that RhB could be efficiently removed in real water matrixes, demonstrating that CoFe@CCB has excellent anti-interference performance. Meanwhile, strong magnetism of CoFe@CCB made it easy to separate from water and recover for reuse. These results fully proved that CoFe@CCB has good practical application potential. In addition, the combination of CoFe@CCB and PMS still exhibited outstanding degradation efficiencies of phenacetin (PNT), bisphenol A (BPA), sulfamethazine (SMZ) and 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). Therefore, this study provides a new method for the reuse of discarded cigarette butts to fabricate catalysts with extremely superior performance and easy to use for PMS activation to eliminate organic pollutants from wastewater. [Display omitted] •Magnetic CoFe@CCB derived from cigarette butts was fabricated for the first time.•CoFe@CCB exhibited excellent stability and reusability for PMS activation.•Synergy of Co, Fe and CCB enhanced the material catalytic activity.•SO4−, OH, and 1O2 were responsible for the rapid degradation of RhB.