Study reveals new catalytic pathway for effective water pollution control

Researchers have made a breakthrough in the field of water pollution control. They have developed a new technique using single-atom catalysts (SACs) in a Fenton-type catalytic system that significantly improves the efficiency of decomposing pollutants in water. Their results were published in the journal Nature CommunicationsThe researchers come from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and the Suzhou Institute for Advanced Study.

Single-atom catalysts are tiny, powerful tools used in chemical reactions that can help purify water by breaking down harmful pollutants. However, their effectiveness has been limited by the slow movement of reactants to the catalyst surface and the large amount of oxidants required. Previous research has attributed the efficiency improvements of nanoconfined SACs to the enrichment of the surface with pollutants and oxidants. However, the exact mechanisms were not fully understood.

The research team found that by confining these catalysts to tiny, nanometer-sized pores in silica particles, they could speed up the reaction dramatically and use the oxidants more efficiently. Their experiments showed that in addition to the local enrichment of reactants, the catalytic pathway itself changed. Instead of relying on singlet oxygen (a reactive form of oxygen), the reaction switched to a direct electron transfer process, which is much more efficient at breaking down pollutants.

This new method increased the pollutant degradation rate by 34.7 times compared to traditional methods. The efficiency of oxidant utilization also improved significantly, from 61.8% to 96.6%. The system proved highly efficient in degrading various electron-rich phenolic compounds, demonstrating its robustness under different environmental conditions and maintaining high performance in real lake water tests.

This research provides a better understanding of how nanoconfined catalysts work and opens new possibilities for the development of efficient, low-carbon water purification technologies. It offers a promising direction for further innovations in advanced oxidation processes and other environmental science applications.