Constructing confinement-protected Co3O4 into nanocarbon shells onto Mn2O3 nanorod allows for efficient PMS activation and contaminant elimination

Widespread industrial application of bisphenol A (BPA) has produced large amounts of contaminated wastewater, and its accumulation in the environment has threatened human health. In this study, MnOOH nanorods were deposited with the polydopamine layer containing incorporated Co precursor, which was derived to obtain carbon shell confined Co 3 O 4 onto Mn 2 O 3 nanorods. The controlled calcination temperature was optimized to improve the active state of metal species. Carbon shells mediate the electronic interactions between Co 3 O 4 and Mn 2 O 3 , triggering more Co(II/III) redox cycles and an enhanced fraction of Mn(III) along with more oxygen vacancies in Mn 2 O 3 . In addition, more pyridinic N species were generated in the carbon shell of Mn@C/Co-600, affording better affinity to the polar contaminants and peroxymonosulfate (PMS). Therefore, these characters in Mn@C/Co-600 caused the accelerated reaction cycles in the PMS activation and BPA degradation. Compared with other catalysts, Mn@C/Co-600 showed the highest degradation efficiency of bisphenol A (BPA) with the rate constant of 0.827 min −1 , which was up to 30 times higher than that of Mn@C/Co-Cl-600 (0.027 min −1 ). The anions interference effect on BPA degradation follows the order of Cl − (0.925 min −1 )