Activated persulfate by the synergistic electro-activation and bimetals cathode (MBC@CF) leads to highly efficient degradation of tetracycline

This study established an efficient coupled activation persulfate (PMS) process with a bimetallic modified biochar (MBC)-loaded cathode (MBC@CF) as the main body to remove tetracycline (TC) by electric field-enhanced catalytic cathodic activation of PMS (E-MBC@CF-PMS). The synergistic effect of electrocatalytic co-activation in the E-MBC@CF-PMS system (5.54) was two to three times higher than the electrically activated (2.39) / electrocatalytic (2.03) systems. The fundamental reason is that the presence of electric field enhances the efficient activation of PMS at sites like C = O and Metal-N-C (M-N-C) on the catalytic cathode surface and makes it easier for the vital element Mn+ in the ligand structure to regenerate. 1O2 generated during electrocatalytic coactivation and electron transfer was demonstrated to dominate in the efficient removal of pollutants using free radical quenching and electron spin resonance. This study offers a fresh idea to encourage the effective and practical activation of PMS.