Endogenous Substances Utilization for Water Self-Purification Amplification Driven by Nonexpendable H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> over a Micro-Potential Difference Surface
Chao Lu, Chun Hu, Jun-Mei Wu, Hongwei Rong, Lai Lyu
Abstract
Natural self-purification of water is limited by mass transfer processes between inert oxygen (O 2 ) and stable pollutants. This process must rely on large energy inputs and resource consumption, which have become a global challenge in the environmental field. Here, we greatly amplify this self-purification effect of natural dissolved oxygen (DO) by nonexpendable H 2 O 2 triggering a DRC catalyst with a micro-potential difference surface. This low-energy strategy is mainly realized by lowering the activation energy barriers of endogenous substances and simultaneously opening the mass transfer channels over the Cu–ZnO surface. In this way, pollutant electrons and energy are efficiently utilized to activate DO. Surprisingly, the rapid degradation of the pollutants is accompanied by H 2 O 2 consumption of only 2.6% at most, sometimes even reaching zero consumption, with the instantaneous absolute amount of H 2 O 2 exceeding 100%. The typical endocrine disruptor BPA has been proven to be harmlessly degraded to small molecule alcohols and acids by self-purification amplification, including cleavage of stable contaminants on the catalyst surface, activation of natural DO, and enhancement of mass transfer between them.