Carbonate-induced enhancement of phenols degradation in CuS/peroxymonosulfate system: A clear correlation between this enhancement and electronic effects of phenols substituents

This study investigated the enhancement effects of dissolved carbonates on the peroxymonosulfate-based advanced oxidation process with CuS as a catalyst.It was found that the added CO_(3)^(2−)increased both the catalytic activity and the stability of the catalyst.Under optimized reaction conditions in the presence of CO_(3)^(2−),the degradation removal of 4-methylphenol(4-MP)within 2 min reached 100%,and this was maintained in consecutivemulti-cycle experiments.The degradation rate constant of 4-MP was 2.159 min^(−1),being 685%greater than that in the absence of CO_(3)^(2−)(0.315 min−1).The comparison of dominated active species and 4-MP degradation pathways in both CO_(3)^(2−)-free and CO_(3)^(2−)-containing systems suggested thatmore CO_(3)·^(−)/^(1)O_(2) was produced in the case of CO_(3)^(2−)deducing an electron transfer medium,which tending to react with electron-richmoieties.Meanwhile,Characterization by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic and cyclic voltammetrymeasurement verified CO_(3)^(2−)enabled the effective reduction of Cu^(2+)to Cu^(+).By investigating the degradation of 11 phenolics with different substituents,the dependence of degradation kinetic rate constant of the phenolics on their chemical structures indicated that there was a good linear relationship between the Hammett constantsσp of the aromatic phenolics and the logarithm of k in the CO_(3)^(2−)-containing system.This work provides a new strategy for efficient removal of electron-rich moieties under the driving of carbonate being widely present in actual water bodies.