Boosting Fenton-like reaction efficiency by co-construction of the adsorption and reactive sites on N/O co-doped carbon

A N/O-codoped carbon-based catalyst (N/O-C-8) designed with dual reaction sites (pyridinic N and carbonyl group) was fabricated in this work, for persulfate based advanced oxidation reaction. The pyridinic N served as the adsorption site for target molecule, via series of high resolution XPS analysis and DFT calculation. Meanwhile, the carbonyl group functioned as the persulfate activation site, to generate oxidative 1O2. Engineering and isolating the two reaction sites on catalyst surface can greatly shorten the migration distance from 1O2 to target organic molecule, resulting in good catalytic removal efficiency. As demonstrated, during a 4-hour continuous flow experiment, our catalyst showed stable and efficient removal of tetracycline, with a flow rate of 4 mL/min. The study provides keen insights into the design of effective non-metal based catalysts for practical water remediation. A metal-free catalyst is designed with adsorption site for target organic molecule and active site for the generation of 1O2, respectively, showing excellent removal efficiency of the target molecule tetracycline. [Display omitted] •A metal-free carbon-based catalyst with dual reaction sites was reported.•Pyridinic N help to adsorb target organic compound to the catalyst surface.•Carbonyl group serve as PDS activation site on the catalyst surface.•The catalyst shows an efficient adsorption assisted degradation of target molecule.•The catalyst can work efficiently in a wide pH range from 2 to 9.