High efficiency and rapid degradation of bisphenol A by the synergy between adsorption and oxidization on the MnO2@nano hollow carbon sphere

Abstract In this research, a novel efficiency MnO 2 @Nano hollow carbon sphere (MnO 2 @NHCS) nanocomposite was prepared by one-pot hydrothermal reaction with KMnO 4 solution. The adsorption and oxidization performance of MnO 2 @NHCS were assessed by degradation of bisphenol A (BPA) at different conditions. The effect of dosage of MnO 2 @NHCS, pH, initial concentration of BPA, temperature and humic acid were investigated systematically. Moreover, the characterizations of MnO 2 @NHCS were measured by a series of techniques, such as XRD, FESEM, HRTEM, TGA and XPS. Notably, hollow structure of nano carbon sphere was still retained with uniform MnO 2 nanosheets covered. The results show that the removal rate of BPA was 95.3% within 10 min and BPA can be almost decomposed in 30 min under the optimal conditions. Additionally, the MnO 2 @NHCS remained stable and had a high regeneration efficiency (more than 85%) after 3 cycles (360 min). The reaction intermediates/products of oxidation of BPA were analyzed and the possible degradation pathways of BPA were proposed. These research results demonstrate that the MnO 2 @NHCS is a fleet and efficient material for BPA degradation in aqueous environment.