Study on catalytic mechanisms of Fe3O4-rGOx in three typical advanced oxidation processes for tetracycline hydrochloride degradation

This study explored the catalytic mechanism and performance impacted by the materials ratio of Fe₃O₄-GO_x composites in three typical advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) of O₃, peroxodisulfate (PDS) and photo-Fenton processes for tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) degradation. The ratio of GO in the Fe₃O₄-GO_x composites exhibited different trends of degradation capacity in each AOPs based on different mechanisms. Fe₃O₄-rGO_20wt% exhibited the optimum catalytic performance which enhanced the ozone decomposition efficiency from 33.48% (ozone alone) to 51.83% with the major reactive oxygen species (ROS) of O₂^??. In PDS and photo-Fenton processes, Fe₃O₄-rGO_5wt% had the highest catalytic performance in PDS and H₂O₂ decomposition for SO₄^??, and ^?OH generation, respectively. Compared with using PDS alone, PDS decomposition rate and TCH degradation rate could be increased by 5.97 and 1.73 times under Fe₃O₄-rGO_5wt% catalysis. In the photo-Fenton system, Fe₃O₄-rGO_5wt% with the best catalyst performance in H₂O₂ decomposition, and TCH degradation rate increased by 2.02 times compared with blank group. Meantime, the catalytic mechanisms in those systems of that the ROS produced by conversion between Fe²⁺/Fe³⁺ were also analyzed.