Flower aluminum oxide supported cobalt disulfide activator for peroxymonosulfate: enhanced activity and structural stability

Abstract BACKGROUND Antibiotics are widely used in antiviral treatment, but their persistence poses a significant threat to the ecological environment. Advanced oxidation processes based on peroxymonosulfate (PMS) have shown great promise in the decomposition of antibiotics. Flower micro‐mesoporous composite activators of CoS 2 /f‐Al 2 O 3 were synthesized via a hydrothermal synthesis method with flower Al 2 O 3 (f‐Al 2 O 3 ) and CoS 2 and applied to the activation of PMS. RESULTS The f‐Al 2 O 3 was constructed from flower‐like pore structures stacked with nanosheets, which facilitated the uniform loading and dispersion of the active component of CoS 2 with relatively low resistance, and the reduced sulfur species S 2− promoted the regeneration of Co 2+ on the activator surface. Compared with other systems in water, CoS 2 /f‐Al 2 O 3 activated PMS resulted in the highest decomposition ratio of 97.67% for enrofloxacin (ENR) after 30 min. CoS 2 in the CoS 2 /f‐Al 2 O 3 composite served as the active site, where the presence of sulfur species notably increased the Co(III)/Co(II) redox cycling rate. The f‐Al 2 O 3 support played a crucial role in improving the dispersion and stability of CoS 2 , and these synergistic effects collectively facilitated the efficiency of the CoS 2 /f‐Al 2 O 3 /PMS system in decomposing ENR through electron transfer and reactive oxygen species generation. CONCLUSIONS Owing to its distinctive structure and catalytic activity, the CoS 2 /f‐Al 2 O 3 composite has significant potential for the activation of PMS in the decomposition of antibiotics in aqueous environments. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).