Recently, Professor Xing Mingyang's research group at the School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, has developed an environmentally friendly piezoelectric catalytic system that utilizes dynamic oxygen vacancies to promote the in-situ generation of H2O2 from ZnO, which is then employed for the long-term degradation of organic pollutants in water. The research findings have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
In recent years, piezoelectric catalysis has emerged as a highly promising novel environmental catalytic technology, garnering widespread attention in the field of pollutant control for its ability to in-situ generate H2O2 and degrade organic pollutants and microbes. However, traditional methods suffer from harsh reaction conditions and potential secondary pollution.
The research team fabricated Cobalt Nanocluster-loaded ZnO rod-shaped piezoelectric catalysts (CZO) through a one-step hydrothermal combined with photo-deposition method. Experimental results demonstrate that under conditions without the addition of any organic sacrificial agents, the CZO catalysts can produce up to 1.8 mM H2O2 and achieve a mineralization rate of 50.9% for phenol after 3 hours of ultrasonication, which are 10.5 times and 13 times higher than those of blank ZnO, respectively. Further studies reveal that the CZO piezoelectric system exhibits excellent resistance to environmental matrix interference such as pH value, anions, natural organic matter, etc. Even after exposure to the environment for up to 5 months, CZO maintains outstanding performance in in-situ H2O2 production and phenol degradation. Moreover, the leached cobalt and zinc ions can be easily recovered through simple alkali aging treatment, enabling the regeneration of metal ion recovery and H2O2 production capability. The environmentally friendly and renewable CZO piezoelectric system can achieve long-term degradation of organic pollutants for over 52 hours, holding promising prospects for applications in water pollution control.
Preparation, Characterization, and In Situ Hydrogen Peroxide Production Performance Testing of Zinc Oxide-Based Piezoelectric Catalysts for Phenol Degradation.
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
Related Paper Information: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2317435121
