Visible light enhanced the degradation of sulfadiazine with persulfate activated by Cu ₂ O@zeolite

Cu2O/ZL-10 was successfully fabricated as a good activator of PDS and photo-catalyst. The physicochemical characteristics of the prepared Cu2O/ZL-10 were investigated. Cu2O/ZL-10 was employed to activate PDS for the sulfadiazine (SDZ) degradation under visible light irradiation. In the Vis/Cu2O/ZL-10/PDS system, 91.98% degradation rate of SDZ and 51.8% TOC removal after 180 min reaction were obtained. The SDZ degradation rate was improved significantly by the increase of the doping amount of Cu2O, PDS concentration and Cu2O/ZL-10 addition while it decreased with the growth initial pH. Moreover, the SDZ degradation rate descend by only 0.9% after five cycles uses of Cu2O/ZL-10. Quenching experiments and EPR spectra demonstrated that the dominant free radicals of •O2–, SO4•– and •OH were generated for the SDZ degradation. It demonstrated that Cu2O/ZL-10 was an effective and promising catalyst for the simultaneous activation of PDS and the utilization of visible light to generate active species and photo-induced electron, respectively.