Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) always rely on the generation of inorganic radicals (e.g., HO) for contaminant destruction. Herein, we report a novel AOP, i.e., Co₃O₄/peracetic acid (PAA) to degrade contaminants with organic radicals at neutral pH. Using orange G (OG) as a representative, studies show that Co₃O₄ can effectively activate PAA to promote rapid degradation of OG at neutral pH, with extremely low cobalt leaching. Moreover, Co₃O₄ exhibits high structural and chemical stability in PAA activation. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis indicated the recycling of Co²⁺/Co³⁺, and thus confirmed a catalyst role of Co₃O₄ in the activation of PAA. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) technique and radical-quenching studies showed that organic radical species, (i.e., CH₃C(O)O and CH₃C(O)OO) played a critical role in the degradation process. A wide range of contaminants were further tested for their degradation in the PAA/Co₃O₄ system, and this system was found to exhibit certain selectivity for organic contaminants, especially for those with electron-rich functional groups/moieties, e.g., fluoroquinolones and sulfonamides. This work provides a promising strategy for the degradation of organic contaminants in water treatment.

先进的氧化过程（AOP）始终依赖于无机自由基（例如HO ）的产生来破坏污染物。在这里，我们报告了一种新颖的AOP，即Co ₃ O ₄ /过乙酸（PAA），可在中性pH值下降解具有有机自由基的污染物。以橙色G（OG）为代表的研究表明，Co ₃ O ₄可以有效活化PAA，以促进中性pH下OG的快速降解，并且钴的浸出极低。而且，Co ₃ O ₄在PAA活化中表现出高的结构和化学稳定性。X射线光电子能谱（XPS）分析表明Co ²⁺ / Co ³⁺的循环利用，因此证实了Co ₃ O ₄在PAA活化中的催化剂作用。电子顺磁共振（EPR）技术和自由基淬灭研究表明，有机自由基物质（即CH ₃ C（O）O和CH ₃ C（O）OO ）在降解过程中起着关键作用。进一步测试了各种污染物在PAA / Co ₃ O _4中的降解该系统对有机污染物具有一定的选择性，特别是对于那些具有富电子官能团/部分的有机污染物，例如氟喹诺酮类和磺酰胺类。这项工作为水处理中有机污染物的降解提供了一种有希望的策略。