Photochemical degradation of perfluorooctanoic acid under UV irradiation in the presence of Fe (III)-saturated montmorillonite

Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) has attracted worldwide attention owing to its widespread distribution and potential ecological risks. Developing low-cost, green-chemical and highly efficient treatment approaches is significant for treating PFOA caused environmental issues. Herein, we propose a feasible PFOA degradation strategy under UV irradiation by adding Fe (III)-saturated montmorillonite (Fe-MMT), and the Fe-MMT could be regenerated after reaction. In our system consisting of 1 g L−1 Fe-MMT and 24 μM PFOA, nearly 90 % initial PFOA could be decomposed within 48 h. The enhanced PFOA decomposition could be explained by the ligand-to-metal charge transfer mechanism based on the generated reactive oxygen species (ROSs) and the transformation of iron species in the MMT layers. Moreover, the special PFOA degradation pathway was revealed according to the intermediate identification and the density functional theory calculation. Further experiments demonstrated that even in the presence of co-existing natural organic natter (NOM) and inorganic ions, efficient PFOA removal could still be obtained in UV/Fe-MMT system. This study offers a green-chemical strategy for PFOA removal from contaminated waters. [Display omitted] •Fe-MMT significantly enhanced the photodegradation of PFOA.•pH, co-existing NOM and salts could influence the PFOA degradation.•Interlayer iron rather than solution iron played key role in PFOA degradation.•PFOA degradation mechanism was proposed based on experiments and DFT calculation.