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Ultrafast photocatalytic degradation of nitenpyram by 2D ultrathin Bi2WO6: mechanism, pathways and environmental factors

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Abstract

As a common insecticide, nitenpyram (NTP) seriously threatens the human health and environmental safety. In this work, a visible-light-responsive photocatalyst two-dimensional (2D) Bi2WO6 was synthesized and applied to degrade NTP. Compared with bulk Bi2WO6, the 2D Bi2WO6 exhibits better photocatalytic performance for NTP degradation under visible-light irradiation. The enhanced activity can be ascribed to the unique 2D structure which would induce to higher efficiency of carrier separation. Moreover, hole (h+) plays a major role (and ·O2−) in the degradation of NTP. Based on the intermediates detected by high-performance liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (HPLC–MS), the degradation pathway of NTP was proposed. In addition, the influence of typical environmental factors (pH, water matrix, inorganic cations and common anions) on the degradation of NTP was also investigated. This work not only helps people to understand the degradation of pesticides in actual water bodies, but also provides reference for the subsequent treatment of agricultural wastewater.

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摘要

烯啶虫胺(NTP)作为一种常见的杀虫剂, 严重威胁着人类健康和环境安全。 在这项工作中, 合成了一种可见光响应光催化剂 2D Bi2WO6 并应用于降解 NTP。 与块体 Bi2WO6 相比, 二维 Bi2WO6 在可见光照射下对 NTP 降解表现出更好的光催化性能。增强的活性可归因于独特的二维结构, 这将导致更高的载流子分离效率。 此外, 空穴 (h+) 对 NTP 的降解起主要作用 (和 ·O2-)。基于HPLC-MS检测的中间体, 提出了NTP的降解途径。此外, 还研究了典型环境因素 (pH, 水基质、无机阳离子和常见阴离子) 对NTP降解的影响。 本文不仅有助于人们了解农药在实际水体中的降解情况, 也为农业废水的后续处理提供参考。

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51979081), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. B200202103), the National Key Plan for Research and Development of China (No. 2016YFC0502203) and the National Science Funds for Creative Research Groups of China (No. 51421006) and PAPD.

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  1. Yuan-Hao Cheng and Juan Chen contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Integrated Regulation and Resource Development on Shallow Lakes of Ministry of Education, College of Environment, Hohai University, Nanjing, 210098, China

    Yuan-Hao Cheng, Juan Chen, Hui-Nan Che & Yan-Hui Ao

  2. School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 637459, Singapore

    Bin Liu

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Cheng, YH., Chen, J., Che, HN. et al. Ultrafast photocatalytic degradation of nitenpyram by 2D ultrathin Bi2WO6: mechanism, pathways and environmental factors. Rare Met. 41, 2439–2452 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12598-022-01984-5

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