Currently, water treatment usually requires additional light illumination or oxidants for the degradation of organic pollutants, which increases the costs and is not conducive to practical application. In this study, carbon vacancy-modified Fe–N–C single-atom catalysts (Cv-Fe–N–C SACs) were prepared through one simple acid-etching and pyrolysis process. Interestingly, we found that Cv-Fe–N–C SACs could degrade organic pollutants without any external assistance (such as oxidants or light illumination). The Cv-Fe–N–C SACs could remove over 99% of Rhodamine B (RhB) within 10 min at room temperature. The degradation of organic pollutants with the Cv-Fe–N–C SACs was attributed to their ability to activate dissolved oxygen for producing superoxide (O₂˙⁻). In addition, the catalysts showed high activity over a broad pH range (3–11) and held rather good stability after 5 recycles. This study proved that the Cv-Fe–N–C SACs are highly efficient catalysts for degrading organic pollutants. These catalysts have the potential to make sewage treatment more efficient and less expensive.

中文翻译：

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使用碳空位改性的 Fe-N-C 催化剂，在较宽的 pH 值范围内无需任何外部帮助即可高效降解有机污染物


目前，水处理通常需要额外的光照或氧化剂来降解有机污染物，这增加了成本，不利于实际应用。在本研究中，通过一种简单的酸蚀和热解工艺制备了碳空位修饰的 Fe-N-C 单原子催化剂 （Cv-Fe-N-C SACs）。有趣的是，我们发现 Cv-Fe-N-C SAC 可以在没有任何外部帮助（如氧化剂或光照明）的情况下降解有机污染物。在室温下，Cv-Fe-N-C SACs 可在 10 分钟内去除超过 99% 的罗丹明 B （RhB）。Cv-Fe-N-C SAC 降解有机污染物归因于它们能够激活溶解氧以产生超氧化物 （O₂ ̇⁻）。此外，催化剂在较宽的 pH 范围 （3–11） 内表现出高活性，并且在 5 次循环后保持相当好的稳定性。本研究证明 Cv-Fe–N-C SACs 是降解有机污染物的高效催化剂。这些催化剂有可能使污水处理更高效、更便宜。