Magnetic metal oxide catalysts: Paving the way for enhanced antibiotics degradation in wastewater via peroxymonosulfate activation

The global challenge of removing pharmaceutical pollutants necessitates urgent attention. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) have been widely researched for this purpose. Peroxymonosulfate (PMS) has gained significant interest due to its ability to generate free radicals and its high efficiency and cost-effectiveness. In this study, various magnetic metal oxides (MMOs) including CoFe2O4 (CoF), CuFe2O4 (CuF), and Fe3O4 (FO) were synthesized, and their performance in activating PMS for the elimination of Cefixime (CFX) was compared with each other. The physicochemical, textural, and structural characteristics of the prepared samples were analyzed using BET, FESEM-EDS, XRD, and VSM techniques. The results revealed that CoF exhibited superior performance in the decontamination of CFX when coupled with PMS, outperforming the other catalysts. CoF also demonstrated higher reusability potential compared to CuF and FO catalysts. These findings indicate that the application of transition metal ions as heterogeneous catalysts exhibit enhanced catalytic activity in PMS decomposition compared to homogeneous forms. Overall, CoF proves to be an effective and promising catalyst for contaminant degradation in water resources when employed in the PMS activation system.