Catalysis

Engineering

Ecology

Biology

Photochemistry

Pollutant

Styrene

Telecommunications

Computer science

Electron transfer

Environmental remediation

Chemical engineering

Toluene

Polymer

Catalytic oxidation

Organic chemistry

Oxygen

Chlorobenzene

Degradation (telecommunications)

Copolymer

Environmental chemistry

Contamination

Radical

Chemistry

Benzene

Applied Catalysis B Environment and Energy

In this work, MoS2 is utilized as a cocatalyst to enhance Fe3+/PMS reaction for the deep oxidation of aromatic VOCs in a continuous air-bubbling system. The exposed Mo4+ active sites achieve high-speed electron transfer from MoS2 (001) surface to Fe3+ and accelerate Fe2+ regeneration (∼60%), which greatly promotes O2 and PMS activation for the formation of radicals like O2•-, HO• and SO4•-. Consequently, the Fe3+/PMS/MoS2 system exhibits strong catalytic ability for various VOCs degradation including styrene, toluene and chlorobenzene (with removal efficiency of 97%, 84% and 83%, respectively) at a wide pH range (3−9). MoS2 cocatalyst in Fe3+/PMS reaction greatly promotes the activation of O2 into radicals and inhibits the formation of toxic aromatic byproducts via the deep oxidation of styrene into CO2. Our study provides a green strategy to activate O2 for pollutants degradation and has great potential to be widely applied in actual environment remediation.

Accelerated iron cycle inducing molecular oxygen activation for deep oxidation of aromatic VOCs in MoS2 co-catalytic Fe3+/PMS system