One-pot synthesis of a cellulose-supported CoFeO catalyst for the efficient degradation of sulfamethoxazole.

Cellulose-supported cobalt ferrite (CoFeO/RC) was synthesized via a facile one-pot hydrothermal method and demonstrated to be an efficient catalyst to activate peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for the degradation of sulfamethoxazole (SMX). The characterizations of CoFeO/RC catalysts revealed that an appropriate particle size of the cellulose support could promote the dispersion of CoFeO nanoparticles and consequently promote the catalytic activity of the resulting CoFeO/RC catalysts. The degradation of SMX reached 97.6 % within 20 min at 30 °C with the CoFeO/RC/PMS system. The mechanism of SMX degradation over CoFeO/RC-activated PMS was studied via EPR, XPS, and quenching tests. The results suggested that O was the dominant reactive oxygen species and was accompanied by SO, OH, and O radicals for SMX degradation. The CoFeO/RC catalyst exhibited high stability and recyclability and maintained high catalytic activity after five experimental cycles.