One-pot synthesis of oxygen-functionalized porous carbon from biowaste for rapid organics removal via peroxymonosulfate activation

Oxygen-functionalized porous carbon (PC-800) was fabricated through direct thermal treatment of biowaste under inert atmosphere. The PC-800 was systematically characterized and the results showed that the catalyst was extremely favorable for catalysis due to its high specific surface area (993 m²/g) and abundance active sites (ketonic groups). The results indicated that PC-800 can efficiently degrade acid orange 7 (AO7), and increasing the catalyst loading and PMS dosage have promotional effect on catalysis. The recyclability study showed that, while PC-800 can be reused for several cycles, the catalytic activity was partially deactivated due to the cannibalistic oxidation of PC-800 surface. Nevertheless, high mineralization extent (DOC removal = 70%) and ring opening of aromatic AO7 intermediates was achieved. It was also found that both radical and nonradical mechanisms were responsible for AO7 degradation. Overall, this study showed that biowaste can be facilely functionalized with oxygen functional groups for sustainable PMS activation.