Selective Production of CO from Organic Pollutants by Coupling Piezocatalysis and Advanced Oxidation Processes

To date, the chemical conversion of organic pollutants into value-added chemical feedstocks rather than CO2 remains a major challenge. Herein, we successfully developed a coupled piezocatalytic and advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) system for achieving the conversion of various organic pollutants to CO. The CO product stems from the specific process in which organics are first oxidized to carbonate through peroxymonosulfate (PMS)-based AOPs, and then the as-obtained carbonate is converted into CO by piezoelectric reduction under ultrasonic (US) vibration by using a Co3S4/MoS2 catalyst. Experiments and DFT calculations show that the introduction of Co3S4 not only effectively promotes the transfer and utilization of piezoelectric electrons but also realizes highly selective conversion from carbonate to CO. The Co3S4/MoS2/PMS system has achieved selective generation of CO in actual complex wastewater treatment for the first time, indicating its potential practical applicability.