Defective nitrogen doped carbon material derived from nano-ZIF-8 for enhanced in-situ H2O2 generation and tetracycline hydrochloride degradation in electro-Fenton system

Tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) accumulates in large quantities in the water environment, causing a serious threat to human health and ecological environment safety. This research focused on developing cost-effective catalysts with high 2e - selectivity for electro-Fenton (EF) technology, a green pollution treatment method. Defective nitrogen-doped porous carbon (d-NPC) was prepared using the metal-organic framework as the precursor to achieve in-situ H 2 O 2 production and self-decomposition into high activity ·OH for degradation of TC combined with Co 2+ /Co 3+ . The d-NPC produced 172.1 mg L −1 H 2 O 2 within 120 min, and could degrade 96.4% of TC in EF system. The self-doped defects and graphite-nitrogen in d-NPC improved the oxygen reduction performance and increased the H 2 O 2 yield, while pyridine nitrogen could catalyze H 2 O 2 to generate ·OH. The possible pathway of TC degradation was also proposed. In this study, defective carbon materials were prepared by ball milling, which provided a new strategy for efficient in-situ H 2 O 2 production and the degradation of pollutants.