Abstract
Electro-activated persulfate has displayed good performance in the oxidation of antibiotic pollutants in wastewater. However, high power consumption and the introduction of excessive sulfate ions hinder the application of this technology. This research provided a novel strategy for the applications of small power supply and simple devices in antibiotic pollutant treatment. It has been confirmed that sulfate radical (\({\mathrm{SO}}_4^{\bullet -}\)) could be generated at the boron-doped diamond (BDD) anode in both low and high current conditions. This study proposed a novel low current density electrochemical technology assisted by peroxymonosulfate (PMS) for the degradation of antibiotics. Adding 1 mg/L PMS at current density as low as 1.25 mA/cm2 increased the electro-oxidation rates of ciprofloxacin 5-fold from 1.92 ± 0.67 h−1to 9.70 ± 0.10 h−1. According to the Butler-Volmer equation, the introduction of PMS changed the mechanism of electrode reactions, thermodynamic properties of the system therefore changed. The electron spin resonance (ESR) test has confirmed that hydroxyl radical (•OH), \({\mathrm{SO}}_4^{\bullet -}\), and singlet oxygen (1O2) are all generated in low current electrochemical systems. Quenching experiments illustrate that both radical and non-radical ways play essential roles in electro-oxidation processes. The contribution rates of •OH, \({\mathrm{SO}}_4^{\bullet -}\), and 1O2 were 15.6%, 33.2%, and 40.5%, respectively. An oxidation peak was observed in cyclic voltammetry (CV) around +1.2 V, indicating that PMS electrolyte may drive oxidation at this potential. Besides, the reaction pathways of ciprofloxacin were speculated. Four transformation pathways including stepwise piperazine ring cleavage, OH/F substitution, cyclopropane ring cleavage, and decarboxylation were proposed for ciprofloxacin degradation.
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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Special thanks are due to the instrumental or data analysis from Analytical and Testing Center, Northeastern University, China.
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This work was supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (N2124007-1).
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Conceptualization and methodology: Dong Ma, Xiaomin Hu; material preparation, data collection, and analysis: Dong Ma, Xupicheng Ren, and Bo Zhang; writing - original draft preparation: Dong Ma; writing - review and editing: Guangsheng Qian; funding acquisition: Yan Zhao; resources: Xiaomin Hu; supervision: Xiaomin Hu. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Highlights
• A novel strategy for the applications of small power supply in electro-oxidation
• CVs indicated that PMS electrolyte could depress the overpotential
• ESR tests confirmed that •OH, \({\mathrm{SO}}_4^{\bullet -}\), and 1O2 all generated in low current system
• Ciprofloxacin reaction pathways were speculated by MS spectra and DFT calculation
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Details of the ESR instrumental parameters, analytical methods of byproducts and HPLC-MS/MS spectra, Butler-Volmer equation, apparent rate constants for the oxidation of antibiotics, rate constants for the reaction of quenching agents with reactive oxygen species, diagram of experimental device, quenching experiments, effect of sulfate concentration and interelectrode distance on degradation rates, cyclic voltammetry. (DOCX 2407 kb)
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Ma, D., Ren, X., Zhang, B. et al. Understanding the Assisting Role of PMS in Low Current Electrochemical Processes for Degradation of Antibiotics. Water Air Soil Pollut 234, 253 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-023-06259-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-023-06259-y