Unexpected Intrinsic Catalytic Function of Porous Boron Nitride Nanorods for Highly Efficient Peroxymonosulfate Activation in Water Treatment

Porous boron nitride (BN) nanorods, which were synthesized via a one-stage pyrolysis, exhibited excellent catalytic performance for organics' degradation via peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation. The origin of the unexpected catalytic function of porous BN nanorods was proposed, in which non-radical oxidation driven by the defects on porous BN dominated the sulfamethoxazole degradation via the generation of singlet oxygen (¹O₂). The adsorption energy between PMS and BN was calculated via density functional theory (DFT), and the PMS activation kinetics were further investigated using an electrochemical methodology. The evolution of ¹O₂was verified by electron spin resonance (ESR) and chemical scavenging experiments. The observed non-radical oxidation presented a high robustness in different water matrices, combined with a series of much less toxic intermediates. The used BN was easily regenerated by heating in air, in which the B-O bond was fully recovered. These findings provide new insights for BN as a non-metal catalyst for organics' degradation via PMS activation, in both theoretical and practical prospects.