Metallic glasses (MGs) have attracted great attention in wastewater treatment because of their high reactivity arising from amorphous structure, large residual stress and high density of low coordination sites. However, the reactivity of MGs would gradually slow down with time due to the passivation of active sites by corrosion products, resulting in limited long-term reactivity, which is also an unsolved key issue for established crystalline zero valent iron (ZVI) technology. Here, such problems are successfully overcome by introducing nanoscale chemical inhomogeneities in Fe-based MG (Fe-MGI), which apparently contributes to local galvanic cell effect and accelerates electron transfer during degradation process. More importantly, the selective depletion of Fe⁰ causes local volume shrinkage and crack formation, leading to self-peeling of precipitated corrosion products and reacted regions. Thereby fresh low coordination sites could be continuously provided, counteracting the mass transport and reactivity deteriorating problem. Consequently, Fe-MGI demonstrates excellent long-term reactivity and self-refreshing properties even in neutral solution. The present results provide not only a new candidate but also a new route of designing ZVI materials for wastewater treatment.

金属玻璃（MGs）由于其无定形结构，高残留应力和低配位位点的高密度而引起的高反应性，已在废水处理中引起了广泛关注。然而，由于活性产物被腐蚀产物钝化，MGs的反应性将随时间逐渐降低，导致长期的反应性受到限制，这对于已建立的结晶零价铁（ZVI）技术来说也是一个尚未解决的关键问题。在这里，通过在基于铁的MG（Fe-MGI）中引入纳米级化学不均匀性，可以成功克服此类问题，这显然有助于局部原电池效应并在降解过程中加速电子转移。更重要的是，Fe ⁰的选择性消耗导致局部体积收缩和裂纹形成，导致沉淀的腐蚀产物和反应区域自剥落。因此，可以连续地提供新的低配位点，从而解决了物质运输和反应性恶化的问题。因此，即使在中性溶液中，Fe-MGI仍具有优异的长期反应性和自刷新性能。目前的结果不仅提供了一个新的候选人，而且为设计用于废水处理的ZVI材料提供了一条新途径。