Hangdao Qin*a,
Lei Xiaoa,
Junnan Haoa,
Yong Wanga,
Jiming Huanga,
Guo Yangb and
Bo Xingb
aSchool of Material and Chemical Engineering, Tongren University, Tongren 554300, China. E-mail: qinhangdao@126.com
bCollege of Chemical Engineering, Sichuan University of Science and Engineering, Zigong 643000, China
First published on 12th August 2025
In this paper, ZnFe2O4 was doped by two rare earth metals (La and Pr), and the as-prepared ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4 and ZnPr0.5Fe1.5O4 were applied to activate PMS for acetaminophen degradation. ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4 with the largest oxygen vacancy (OV) content showed the highest acetaminophen degradation efficacy. About 89.7% of acetaminophen was removed within 60 min in the ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4/PMS system. Free radical quenching experiments and EPR tests confirmed that SO4˙−, ˙OH, O2˙− and 1O2 were the dominant reactive oxygen species (ROS). The role of La/Pr doping was explored through a series of comparative studies. The results indicated that La doping enhanced the content of oxygen vacancies, accelerated the electron transfer in the system, and thus sharply improved the catalytic performance of ZnFe2O4. Furthermore, the reusability, universality and actual water environment adaptability of ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4 were investigated.
To further improve the catalytic performance of ZnFe2O4, metal cation doping has been proved to be a feasible method.4–6 Mn-doped ZnFe2O4 (Mn0.6Zn0.4Fe2O4) was prepared using spent Zn-Mn alkaline batteries, and its catalytic performance was higher than that of ZnFe2O4 and MnFe2O4 in activating PMS for bisphenol A degradation.4 In the previous work of the authors, Ni-doped ZnFe2O4 (Ni0.5Zn0.5Fe2O4) was synthesized and applied to activate PMS for the decay of cefotaxime sodium.5 The results indicated that the synergistic effect between Ni2+ and Zn2+ accelerated the Fe3+/Fe2+ cycle, and thus promoted the generation of ROS in the system. In another report, Cu substituted ZnFe2O4 was successfully prepared and used for PMS activation to degrade ciprofloxacin.6 The excellent catalytic activity was due to the generated large amount of oxygen vacancies after Cu substitution. Oxygen vacancies were also the main active sites for PMS activation to produce ROS. It could be concluded that doping could not only accelerate the electron transfer in the system by the synergistic effect between metals, but also regulate the generation of oxygen vacancies in ZnFe2O4, which was beneficial to promote the production of ROS in the catalytic system. Oxygen vacancies were curial.
However, all the above reports were focused on A-site doping, the effect of B-site doping on the catalytic performance of ZnFe2O4 was rarely investigated. In this study, trivalent rare earth ions (La3+ and Pr3+) were used to partly substitute Fe3+ in B-site. The as-prepared catalysts were applied to activate PMS for the degradation of acetaminophen which was a widely used antipyretic and analgesic pharmaceutical.7 The effect of rare earth cation doping on the microstructure, oxygen vacancies and catalytic activity was studied based on the catalyst characterization and activity evaluation. Furthermore, the produced ROS were determinated and the role of La/Pr doping was investigated based on a series of comparative studies including X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) analysis, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) tests and electrochemical analysis. Finally, the reusability, universality and actual water environment adaptability of the catalyst were investigated to evaluate the potential of practical applications of the catalyst.
La/Pr-doped ZnFe2O4 was prepared by sol–gel self-combustion method. The detailed synthesis process was described in the previous study.8 Synthesis schematic depiction of ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4/ZnPr0.5Fe1.5O4 catalyst has been added in Fig. S1 in the SI. Took ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4 as an example. Analytical grade Zn(NO3)2·9H2O, Fe(NO3)3·9H2O and La(NO3)3·6H2O were accurately weighed in stoichiometric proportions, and then dissolved in distilled water. Citric acid was added into each sample of metal nitrates in 1:
1 molar ratio of citric acid to metal ions. The above solutions were heated for 5 h at 70 °C through gel phase transformation. The dry gel was obtained after aging and drying, and then ground into powder and heat-treated at 500 °C for 2 h in a muffle furnace with the heating rate of 10 °C min−1. La(NO3)3·6H2O was replaced with Pr(NO3)3·5H2O when preparing ZnPr0.5Fe1.5O4. Undoped ZnFe2O4, as a control, was synthesized using the same procedure without adding dopant. The detailed information including instruments and methods used in catalyst characterization was shown in Text S2 in the SI.
The N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms and pore size distribution curves of catalysts are presented in Fig. 2. All the isotherms possessed the type IV curve with an H3 type hysteresis loop, which suggested a mesoporous structure of the four catalysts. Moreover, the pore size distribution curves indicated that the pore size basically concentrated in the range of 1–20 nm. The BET surface area was calculated from the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) method, and the total pore volume was determined by the near saturation uptake (P/P0 = 0.99). The average pore size was calculated using Barrett–Joyner–Halenda (BJH) method. As seen from Table 1 that rare earth doping enhanced the surface area and pore volume, and ZnPr0.5Fe1.5O4 showed higher BET surface area (20 m2 g−1) and pore volume (0.058 cm3 g−1).
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Fig. 2 N2 adsorption–desorption isotherms and pore size distribution curves of ZnFe2O4, ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4 and ZnPr0.5Fe1.5O4. |
Catalysts | BET surface area (m2 g−1) | Pore volume (cm3 g−1) | Average pore size (nm) |
---|---|---|---|
ZnFe2O4 | 8 | 0.033 | 3.07 |
ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4 | 15 | 0.046 | 3.82 |
ZnPr0.5Fe1.5O4 | 20 | 0.058 | 3.82 |
Besides, the ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4 catalyst obtained in the present study was compared with other catalysts used in acetaminophen degradation (Table 2). Although all the catalysts were used in AOPs for the degradation of acetaminophen, the oxidizing reagents and reaction conditions were different, and thus a true quantity comparison was impossible.
Firstly, XPS analysis and EPR tests were conducted to clarify the relationship between the doping elements and oxygen vacancies in the catalysts. The XPS survey spectra of ZnFe2O4, ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4 and ZnPr0.5Fe1.5O4 were presented in Fig. S3 in the SI. ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4 consisted of Zn, Fe, La and O elements and ZnPr0.5Fe1.5O4 consisted of Zn, Fe, Pr and O elements, which further confirmed that La/Pr was successfully doped onto ZnFe2O4. The fine-scanned XPS spectra of O 1 s were shown in Fig. 4. The peaks at 538.6 eV and 539.5 eV were assigned to lattice oxygen (OL) and adsorbed oxygen or surface oxygen (OS), respectively. The ratio of OS/OL was closely related to oxygen vacancies, and the high ratio signified more oxygen vacancies over the catalyst surface.15 The calculated ratios were 0.85, 1.54 and 1.14 for ZnFe2O4, ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4 and ZnPr0.5Fe1.5O4, respectively. ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4 possessed the most oxygen vacancies, while the content of oxygen vacancies in ZnFe2O4 was smallest.
Moreover, as presented in Fig. 5, the intensity of the EPR signals followed the order of ZnFe2O4 < ZnPr0.5Fe1.5O4 < ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4. Based on the results of XPS analysis and EPR tests, it could be concluded that as same as A-site doping, B-site doping with rare earth also could tune the oxygen vacancies in ZnFe2O4 catalyst, and the oxygen vacancies were increased by the incorporation of rare earth into the lattice. It was important that the catalytic activity was increased with the concentration of oxygen vacancies in the catalysts, which indicated oxygen vacancies were the active sites for the activation of PMS.16
Moreover, EPR measurements were used to further confirm the ROS generated during the catalytic process. In Fig. 6b, 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline-N-oxide (DMPO) was used as a radical trapping agent for SO4˙− and ˙OH, and DMPO-SO4˙− and DMPO-˙OH signals were observed, which indicated both SO4˙− and ˙OH were generated in ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4/PMS system. As shown in Fig. 6c, DMPO was used as a radical trapping agent for O2˙−, and the characteristic signal for DMPO-O2˙− adducts confirmed the generation of O2˙− in ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4/PMS system. As exhibited in Fig. 6d, 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-piperidone (TEMP) was employed as a radical trapping agent for 1O2, and the typical 1:
1
:
1 triplet signals of TEMP-1O2 were detected, which further demonstrated the existence of 1O2 in ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4/PMS system. Besides, the signal intensity of ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4 was higher than that of ZnFe2O4 and ZnPr0.5Fe1.5O4, which was the reason for the highest catalytic performance of ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4. La/Pr doping enhanced the content of oxygen vacancies, and thus accelerated the production of ROS, which was ascribed to the fact that oxygen vacancies could facilitate the adsorption of PMS on catalyst surface.17
Moreover, the charge transfer among PMS, catalyst and acetaminophe was also explored through the open-circuit potential (OCP) curves. As illustrated in Fig. 7b, after the addition of acetaminophe into the different catalytic systems, an obvious decline of potential was observed, which was ascribed to the donation of electrons by acetaminophe. The potential dropped due to the decomposition of PMS and the oxidation of metal ions.16 The potential difference was 0.0367 V, 0.0654 V and 0.0619 V in ZnFe2O4/PMS system, ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4/PMS system and ZnPr0.5Fe1.5O4/PMS system, respectively. The potential difference in the ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4/PMS system was the largest, which was contributed to the highest degradation efficiency of acetaminophe.
Overall, the oxidation of ROS and the direct electron transfer were responsible for the degradation of acetaminophe. More importantly, based on the above comparative studies, it could be concluded that La/Pr doping enhanced the content of oxygen vacancies in ZnFe2O4, and the enriched oxygen vacancies promoted the generation of ROS and accelerated the electron transfer in the system, and thus improved the degradation rate of acetaminophe.
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Fig. 8 The reusability of ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4 for acetaminophe degradation. Reaction conditions: [acetaminophen]0 = 20 mg L−1, [PMS]0 = 1.0 g L−1, [catalyst]0 = 1.0 g L−1, unadjusted pH = 6.98, T = 25 °C. |
To examine whether ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4 could be satisfactorily applied to actual water environment, the acetaminophe degradation in tap water and lake water (collected from the Mingde Lake in Tongren University, Tongren, China) was also conducted. As shown in Fig. 9, the removal efficiency of acetaminophe followed the order of lake water < tap water < ultrapure water. The decrease of the acetaminophe removal efficiency could be due to the existence of Cl− in the tap water and the existence of humic substances and Cl− in and lake water.21,22
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Fig. 9 The degradation of acetaminophen in different waterbodies. Reaction conditions: [acetaminophen]0 = 20 mg L−1, [PMS]0 = 1.0 g L−1, [catalyst]0 = 1.0 g L−1, unadjusted pH = 6.98, T = 25 °C. |
The universality of ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4 catalyst was evaluated through the degradation of different PPCPs in ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4/PMS system. It could be seen from Fig. 10 that tetracycline could be completely degraded within 30 min. Although the removal rate of ethylparaben was 51.6%, it could be further improved under the optimal reaction conditions. These results indicated ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4/PMS system was effective and possessed potential application in the degradation of other PPCPs.
The toxicities of acetaminophen and the eight intermediates were evaluated by Toxicity Estimation Software Tool (TEST). As presnted in Fig. S4 in the SI, the original BHA exhibited “developmental toxicant”. After degradation in ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4/PMS system, the developmental toxicity values of P3, P4, P5, P6, P7 and P8 were smaller than that of acetaminophen. Theses results indicated that the overall toxicity of acetaminophen could be weakened by using ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4/PMS system.
This work demonstrated that tuning the oxygen vacancies induced by La/Pr doping was a feasible strategy for enhancing the catalytic activity of ZnFe2O4, which provided a theoretical basis for the improvement of catalytic performance by doping of metals. The ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4/PMS system showed enormous potential for treating PPCPs in water. However, further studies, such as the optimum doping content and the performance of ZnLa0.5Fe1.5O4 in the treatment of real wastewater remain to be investigated.
Supplementary information includes Text S1: the sourcing and purity information of the used chemicals in this study; Text S2: the detailed information including instruments and methods used in catalyst characterization; Text S3: the detailed experimental procedure for the recycle study; Text S4: the analytical methods; Text S5: the details of operational approach of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and open-circuit potential (OCP); Fig. S1: synthesis schematic depiction; Fig. S2: the adsorption of acetaminophen by different catalysts; Fig. S3: the XPS survey spectra; Fig. S4: toxicity estimation. See DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/d5ra05044h.
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