N-Doped Graphene from Metal-Organic Frameworks for Catalytic Oxidation of p-Hydroxylbenzoic Acid: N-Functionality and Mechanism

© 2017 American Chemical Society.N-doped graphene has been considered as a promising catalyst with surface metal-free active sites for environmental remediation. Several MIL-100 (Fe)-templated N-doped graphene samples were synthesized using dicyandiamide, melamine, and urea as the nitrogen precursor...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Liang, P., Zhang, C., Duan, Xiaoguang, Sun, Hongqi, Liu, Shaomin, Tade, Moses, Wang, Shaobin
Format: Journal Article
Published: American Chemical Society 2017
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP130101319
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/51425
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Summary:© 2017 American Chemical Society.N-doped graphene has been considered as a promising catalyst with surface metal-free active sites for environmental remediation. Several MIL-100 (Fe)-templated N-doped graphene samples were synthesized using dicyandiamide, melamine, and urea as the nitrogen precursors. Excellent catalytic oxidation of p-hydroxylbenzoic acid (PHBA) was observed on the as-synthesized samples via peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation. The mechanism was investigated by both electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR, 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline N-oxide and 2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-piperidinol as the trapping agents) and quenching tests (ethanol and sodium azide as the radical scavengers). Benzoic acid and furfuryl alcohol were also employed as probing reagents for hydroxyl/sulfate radicals and singlet oxygen, respectively. The results confirmed that singlet oxygen was generated and dominated the PHBA degradation on N-doped graphene, rather than hydroxyl/sulfate radicals. With the novel N-doped graphene, this study illustrates the formation mechanism of nitrogen functionalities for reactive radicals via PMS activation for removal of organic contaminants in water.