Ceria accelerated nanoscale zerovalent iron assisted heterogenous Fenton oxidation of tetracycline

The development of an ultra-efficient heterogeneous Fenton catalyst that has practical application and can be easily separated is of great importance. In this study, a novel nanocomposite, Fe 0 /CeO 2 , was successfully synthesised and applied for Fenton oxidation of tetracycline. The results show that Fe 0 /CeO 2 significantly enhanced the removal of pollutants, which suggests a synergistic effect between nanoscale zero-valent iron and CeO 2 . Furthermore, the composite catalyst exhibited ideal reusability and wide pH adaptation. A radical identification experiment revealed that surface-bounded OH ( OH ads) played a critical role in Fenton reaction, and compared with bare nanoscale zero-valent iron, Fe 0 /CeO 2 remarkably promoted the generation of OH in the Fenton system, mostly because CeO 2 not only increased the adsorption properties of the catalyst, it also accelerated electron transfer to promote the decomposition of H 2 O 2 due to the abundance of surface oxygen vacancies. A reasonable degradation pathway was also proposed for tetracycline on the basis of the detected intermediates. Our findings help to understand the mechanism of tetracycline degradation by heterogeneous Fenton-like, and also provide an efficient system for organic wastewater treatment.