Significantly Enhanced Electrocatalytic Reduction of Chloramphenicol from Water Mediated by Fe–F–N Co-doped Carbon Materials

Abstract

Chloramphenicol (CAP) is a widely used antibiotic drug and poses a great threat to human health and the ecosystem. In this work, an iron–fluorine–nitrogen (Fe–F–N) co-doped porous carbon material was innovatively prepared and applied for the electrocatalytic reduction of CAP from water, and excellent treatment performance was achieved. For an initial CAP concentration of 10 mg/L, after 60 min operation, almost 100% of CAP was removed. The active Fe(II) sites and the F-doping-induced electronic structure of Fe-FNC facilitated the electrocatalytic reductive degradation of CAP by promoting electron transfer, rather than the H*-mediated indirect reduction process. Therefore, a better treatment performance was obtained by Fe-FNC compared to other catalysts such as Fe-NC and FNC. The reaction pathways for CAP reduction were elucidated, and the ecotoxicity of the reaction products was assessed. The toxicity of the intermediate products was found to be significantly reduced, indicative of the good prospect of this method for CAP-containing wastewater pretreatment.