Activation of sulfite by single-atom Fe deposited graphitic carbon nitride for diclofenac removal: The synergetic effect of transition metal and photocatalysis

Herein, through supramolecular gel assisted pre-configuration, a novel bamboo-like porous graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) deposited with single-atom Fe was successfully prepared and used for sulfite (S(IV)) activation. Unexpectedly, owing to the presence of single-atom Fe, hybrid material with only 2.5 parts per thousand of Fe exhibited 16 times higher S(IV) activation efficiency for diclofenac removal than pure g-C3N4 under visible light irradiation. Moreover, a synergetic effect of Fe and g-C3N4 was found to play the dominate role, and the synergetic factor was calculated to be 0.84. The synergetic mechanism mainly related to the generation of surface Fe-S(IV) complex, which could be affected by S(IV) species or the presence of H2PO4-. DCF removal was significantly enhanced at alkaline condition, but the enhancement was mainly attributed to photocatalysis but not synergetic effect. Decarboxylation, hydroxylation, chlorine abstraction and cleavages at bridging N atom were the main degradation pathways of DCF, which agreed well with Fukui index prediction. The toxicity of DCF was alleviated during the degradation process through successful mineralization of chlorine atoms.