Optimizing nitrogen doping in cobalt nitrogen carbon catalysts for enhanced peroxymonosulfate activation

<h2>Summary</h2> The effects of nitrogen doping and electronic modifications on peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation still lack investigation. Herein, we investigate the impact of different nitrogen doping types on the PMS activation process. We develop CoNC catalysts (Co₃O₄-decorated nitrogen-doped carbon catalysts) with varying ratios of nitrogen doping types, including pyridinic, pyrrolic, and graphitic nitrogen. Both experimental and theoretical results demonstrate that, among all doping types, pyridinic nitrogen significantly promotes the growth of active sites and enhances the activation of PMS. CoNC achieves high degradation efficiencies of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) mixture: 99.3% for styrene and 91.8% for toluene. Long-term stability tests confirm that CoNC maintains high performance over six reaction cycles. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal the PMS adsorption sites on CoNC and outline its decomposition pathway. This study paves the way for the design of efficient catalysts through electronic structure regulation, advancing the potential for PMS-based air pollution control in complex environments.