Performance and mechanistic studies of rapid atenolol degradation through peroxymonosulfate activation by V, Co, and bamboo carbon catalyst

Developing the Co-based catalysts with high reactivity for the sulfate radical (SO₄⁻·)–based advanced oxidation processes (SR-AOPs) has been attracting numerous attentions. To improve the peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation process, a novel Co-based catalyst simultaneously modified by bamboo carbon (BC) and vanadium (V@CoO-BC) was fabricated through a simple solvothermal method. The atenolol (ATL) degradation experiments in V@CoO-BC/PMS system showed that the obtained V@CoO-BC exhibited much higher performance on PMS activation than pure CoO, and the V@CoO-BC/PMS system could fully degrade ATL within 5 min via the destruction of both radicals (SO₄⁻· and O₂⁻·^·) and non-radicals (¹O₂). The quenching experiments and electrochemical tests revealed that the enhancing mechanism of bamboo carbon and V modification involved four aspects: (i) promoting the PMS and Co ion adsorption on the surface of V@CoO-BC; (ii) enhancing the electron transfer efficiency between V@CoO-BC and PMS; (iii) activating PMS with V³⁺ species; (iv) accelerating the circulation of Co²⁺ and Co³⁺, leading to the enhanced yield of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Furthermore, the V@CoO-BC/PMS system also exhibited satisfactory stability under broad pH (3–9) and good efficiency in the presence of co-existing components (HCO₃⁻, NO₃⁻, Cl⁻, and HA) in water. This study provides new insights to designing high-performance, environment-friendly bimetal catalysts and some basis for the remediation of antibiotic contaminants with SR-AOPs.