Citation: Lijuan Huang, Rui Gan, Xin Han, Meilin Sun, Li Chen, Wen Liu, Xiaoxin Zhang, Fei Pan. Peroxymonosulfate activation by Fe(Ⅲ)-phytate co-precipitation for efficient water treatment at circumneutral pH: The critical role of direct electron transfer[J]. Chinese Chemical Letters, ;2026, 37(5): 111840. doi: 10.1016/j.cclet.2025.111840 shu

Peroxymonosulfate activation by Fe(Ⅲ)-phytate co-precipitation for efficient water treatment at circumneutral pH: The critical role of direct electron transfer

Lijuan Huang ^{a, 1} ,
Rui Gan ^{a, 1} ,
Xin Han ^a ,
Meilin Sun ^a ,
Li Chen ^a ,
Wen Liu ^{a, c, d, *,} ,
Xiaoxin Zhang ^a ,
Fei Pan ^{a, b, *,}

a.
School of Resources and Environment, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430200, China
b.
State Key Laboratory of New Textile Materials and Advanced Processing Technologies, Wuhan Textile University, Wuhan 430200, China
c.
The Key Laboratory of Water and Sediment Sciences, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
d.
State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 311300, China

wen.liu@pku.edu.cn

fpan@wtu.edu.cn

Received Date: 14 January 2025
Revised Date: 7 August 2025
Accepted Date: 15 September 2025
Available Online: 16 September 2025

Figures(4)

Improving the reactivity of Fe(Ⅲ) is the bottleneck in the catalytic activity of persulfate-based Fenton-like chemistry. In this study, the Fe(Ⅲ)-PA catalyst was prepared for the activation of persulfate (PMS) by co-precipitation of phytate with iron ions. In particular, the Fe(Ⅲ)-PA/PMS system achieved efficient degradation of the target pollutant TCH under a wide range of pH conditions from 3.0 to 9.0. In the Fe(Ⅲ) PA/PMS/TCH system, the oxidative degradation of TCH was mainly via the direct electron transfer pathway. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations revealed the mechanism of PMS activation potentiation, that is, phytate reduced the adsorption energy of the catalyst for PMS from -0.43 eV to -2.72 eV by coordination with the ferrihydrite. Moreover, Fe(Ⅲ)-PA functions as an electron shuttle and accelerates the electron transfer process between TCH and PMS. The removal of TCH under the electron transfer process (ETP) mediated by Fe(Ⅲ)-PA was selective, thereby demonstrating less sensitivity to the presence of co-existing ions and natural organic matter (NOMs). This work provides a viable case for ligand-enhanced Fe(Ⅲ) activation of PMS and reveals the critical role of direct electron transfer in pollutant elimination.
- Phytic acid,
- Fenton-like chemistry,
- Peroxymonosulfate,
- Electron shuttles,
- Selectivity
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