Carbon felt supported cobalt oxide: An easily recyclable catalyst for efficient peroxymonosulfate activation

Activation of peroxymonosulfate (PMS) by cobalt oxide has been extensively investigated for the degradation of organic pollutants. However, cobalt oxide is usually used as a powdered catalyst, which requires extra pro-cedures for separation. In this study, carbon felt supported cobalt oxide (Co/CF) was facilely prepared via an electrodeposition-calcination method. The Co/CF catalyst had an excellent activation capability of PMS for Acid Orange 7 (AO7) degradation under neutral pH, and almost complete decolorization could be achieved within 3 mins with a reaction rate of 1.59 min-1. Scavenging studies indicated that the dominant active species were sulfate radical and hydroxyl radical. After 25 cycle experiments, Co/CF could still degrade 71.1 % of AO7, and the degradation rate recovered to 87.8 % after calcination again. In addition, low concentrations of leached cobalt ions in the range of 0.8 to 69.5 mu g/L were determined during cycles. These results displayed the excellent stability and reusability of Co/CF.