Boosting H2O2 activation by Cu and Ce co-doped g-C3N4 for pollutants removal: From the free radical pathway to the non-free radical pathway

Recently, materials synthesized by combining graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) and metallic material have caught a lot of attention because of their high catalytic activity. In this paper, a novel g-C3N4 catalyst doped with Cu and Ce (labeled as CuCe-CN) is presented. CuCe-CN can effectively activate H2O2 to degrade tetracycline hydrochloride (TC-HCl) and cause TC-HCl to be completely degraded within one hour. The presence of CeO2 in catalyst provides the redox electron pairs of Ce(IV) and Ce(III), and also facilitates the generation of 1 O 2 during the experimental process. By comparing the main active substances of CuCe-CN and Cu-CN, the fact that the doping of Ce changes the degradation pathway from free radical pathway to non-free radical pathway can be found. It can be demonstrated by electrochemical tests that the doping of Ce promotes the electron transfer in CuCe-CN, which can benefit the generation of reactive oxidation species (ROS), especially 1 O 2 . CuCe-CN/H2O2 system has a good adaptability to the changes of environment. The catalytic performance of CuCe-CN does not be negatively affected by inorganic salt ions, and maintains high activity in natural aqueous environments. In this research, a new method for optimizing the activation behavior of g-C3N4 and a new non-free radical degradation method of TC-HCl were provided.