Constructing layered cobalt(II) hydroxide in carbon sphere to enhance anti-interference capability for effective degradation of fluorinated antibiotic via peroxymonosulfate activation

Developing novel technique for effective degradation of fluorinated antibiotic is of great significance. Herein, we adopt a simple ship-in-a-bottle strategy to prepare Co(OH) 2 /C composite with hollow structure. Notably, spatial confinement effect triggered by carbon sphere can promote the mass transfer process between PMS and Co(OH) 2 /C, so Co(OH) 2 /C displays high efficiency of PMS activation. As guessed, the Co(OH) 2 /C-mediated PMS system can realize effective degradation of ofloxacin in a short time, and observed rate constant is as high as 1.32 min −1 . Because of large layer spacing and amphoteric attribute of Co(OH) 2 , interestingly, the Co(OH) 2 /C-mediated PMS system also exhibits superb anti-interference ability for inorganic ions and acid fluctuation. More importantly, in-situ characterization analyses reveal that the formation of Co(OH) 2 /C-PMS* complex is the first step during the process of PMS over Co(OH) 2 /C, and the Co(OH) 2 /C-PMS* complex is then decomposed into ≡Co 4+  = O and H • , thereby achieving high removal efficiency of total organic carbon and satisfactory defluorination rate. In addition, pathways of ofloxacin degradation and toxicity of degradation intermediates are investigated in detailed. To sum up, current work offers a promising technique for effective treatment of wastewater containing fluorinated antibiotic.