Metal-carbon hybrid materials induced persulfate activation: Application, mechanism, and tunable reaction pathways

Proper wastewater treatment has always been the focus of human society, and many researchers have been working to find efficient and stable wastewater treatment technologies. Persulfate-based advanced oxidation processes (PS-AOPs) mainly rely on persulfate activation to form reactive species for pollutants degradation and are considered to be one of the most effective wastewater treatment technologies. Recently, metal-carbon hybrid materials have been diffusely used for PS activation because of their high stability, abundant active sites, and easy applicability. Metal-carbon hybrid materials can successfully overcome the shortcomings of onefold metal catalysts and carbon catalysts by combing the complementary advantages of the two components. This article reviews recent studies about metal-carbon hybrid materials-mediated PS-AOPs for wastewater decontamination. The interactions of metal and carbon materials, as well as the active sites of metal-carbon hybrid materials, are introduced first. Then, the application and mechanism of metal-carbon hybrid materials-mediated PS activation are presented in detail. Lastly, the modulation methods of metal-carbon hybrid materials and their tunable re-action pathways were discussed. The prospect of future development directions and challenges is proposed to facilitate metal-carbon hybrid materials-mediated PS-AOPs to take a step further for practical application.

Automated summary

Proper wastewater treatment has always been a focus of human society, and persulfate-based advanced oxidation processes (PS-AOPs) using metal-carbon hybrid materials have emerged as one of the most effective technologies for wastewater treatment. Metal-carbon hybrid materials overcome the limitations of single metal and carbon catalysts by combining their advantages, and this article reviews recent studies on their application in PS-AOPs for wastewater decontamination. The interactions, active sites, application, mechanism, modulation methods, and future development directions of metal-carbon hybrid materials are discussed.