High Efficiency Degradation Organic Pollutant Using Novel Heme-Derived Fe–N Co-Doped Carbon Catalyst Activated PDS and H₂O₂

Fe–N co-doped carbon catalyst has received increasing attention in the field of organic wastewater treatment because of its unique structure and outstanding activity. However, the reusability, catalytic activity, and pH working range are still a great challenge for future application. Herein, a novel αFe-HM@C-T catalyst was prepared by pyrolyzing a mixture of starch and heme and was analyzed by TEM, H₂-TPR, XRD, BET, XPS, FTIR, and Raman spectrum. Meanwhile, αFe-HM@C-T catalysts show the highest catalytic performance due to abundant porous structure, higher redox property, and unique Fe–N_x configuration. The rhodamine B (RhB) could be almost completely degraded within 30 min on the 5Fe-HM@C-850, and recovery rates of catalytic activity of 96% and 91.8% were achieved in peroxydisulfate (PDS) and H₂O₂ systems with an extensive buffer pH range. Furthermore, mechanistic insights by quenching experiments and EPR verified the high removal efficiency of RhB mainly attributed to indirect oxidation of SO₄^•–, •OH, and ¹O₂ in both systems, and the potential mechanism was proposed.