The synergistic catalytic mechanism between different functional sites of boron/iron on iron oxides in Fenton-like reactions

[Display omitted] •B-O/Fe-O on FeOx-B served as different functional sites.•B-O acted as a new active site and accelerated the reduction of Fe (III).•The removal rate of TTCH was improved by 24.08 %.•Reactive species were changed from SO4−, etc to surface reactive complexes. The detoxification and harmless treatment of toxic organic industrial wastewater are essential guarantees for the global water environment and human life safety. As an important treatment technology for this wastewater, the advanced oxidation process is limited by the catalytic rate due to the low reduction rate, and the modulation and acceleration of electron transfer at the catalytic sites become the focus and difficulty in this field. Herein, we synthesized boron-doped iron oxide (FeOx-B) to enhance the interfacial electron transfer during peroxymonosulfate (PMS) catalysis, resulting in efficient degradation (91.73 %) of the contaminant (TTCH, Tetracycline hydrochloride). Compared with the commercial Fe2O3 and Fe3O4, the removal rate of TTCH is improved by 47.89 % and 24.45 %, respectively. As a new active site, B-O interacts with the contaminant and accelerates the reduction of Fe (III). The reactive species also change from sulfate radical (SO4−), hydroxyl radical (OH), and singlet oxygen (1O2) to surface reactive complexes. The system is pH-adaptive (pH = 3–11) and presents excellent resistance to humic acid (HA) and anions (10 mM). Toxicity assessment reveals that the degradation products are low toxic or harmless. This work suggests a new strategy for the development of highly reactive iron-based materials and provides theoretical insights into the mechanism of the PMS activation processes.