Improving the Fenton catalytic performance of FeOCl using an electron mediator

FeOCl Fenton-like catalyst has drawn much attention due to its high catalytic activity. Nevertheless, the potential application of FeOCl is significantly hindered by the sluggish reduction kinetics of Fe³⁺ to active Fe²⁺. Here, we report that the incorporation of Fe − O–Mo electron mediator into FeOCl via forming a FeOCl/MoS₂ composite can facilitate the Fe²⁺ regeneration through the oxidation of Mo⁴⁺ to Mo⁶⁺, which boosts the hydroxyl radicals yields, thus leading to a significantly improved catalytic performance. The removal efficiency of methylene blue (MB, 50 mg L⁻¹) achieves ∼100% within 2 min. with low dosage of FeOCl/MoS₂ (0.2 g L⁻¹) and H₂O₂ (0.6 mM). FeOCl/MoS₂ not only has broad working pH range (∼3 − 9) and high salinity tolerance (100 mM), but also capable to degrade various organic pollutants. For practical application, the fabricated FeOCl/MoS₂ membrane effectively degrades continuous MB flow. This study demonstrates that incorporating an electron mediator is an effective way to improve the catalytic performance of heterogeneous Fenton-like catalysts.