Biomimetic design of wood carbon-based heterogeneous catalysts for enhanced organic pollutants degradation

The controllable and large-scale synthesis of Fenton-like catalysts advances the development of industrial wastewater treatments, but a great challenge is remained due to its low catalytic activity at a wide pH range and poor cyclic utilization. Herein, the urchin-like Cu 2 O/CuO heterojunction on a multi-channeled wood carbon was rationally designed as a heterogeneous catalyst for enhancing degradation of aromatic organic pollutants. The results showed that the wood carbon-based catalysts could make pollutants to be degraded efficiently in the pH range of 5.0–12.0. The high-performing wood carbon-based materials exhibited the high removal rate of over 90.0% even after 5-cycles. Benefited from the induction effect of wood carbon, the Cu 2 O/CuO heterojunction with bionic structure was anchored accurately and selectively. The as-prepared Cu 2 O/CuO@wood carbon exhibited efficient water transport capacity because of high specific surface area and rich channels. The Cu(II)/Cu(I) redox circulation and defective carbon synergistically boosted the generation of hydroxyl radicals (•OH) and singlet oxygen ( 1 O 2 ), which were primarily involved into the degradation process. The density functional theory calculations further unveiled that the Cu 2 O/CuO heterojunction could possess large adsorption energy for H 2 O 2 and induced increased number of electron transfer for enhancing breakage of O O bonds. This research opens up a new avenue for the biomimetic synthesis of heterogeneous catalysts for industrial wastewater treatments.