articleEnvironmental Science & TechnologyJan 14, 2014Closed access

Key Role of Persistent Free Radicals in Hydrogen Peroxide Activation by Biochar: Implications to Organic Contaminant Degradation

Institute of Soil Science · Chinese Academy of Sciences · +1 more institution

PubMed
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Abstract

We investigated the activation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) by biochars (produced from pine needles, wheat, and maize straw) for 2-chlorobiphenyl (2-CB) degradation in the present study. It was found that H2O2 can be effectively activated by biochar, which produces hydroxyl radical ((•)OH) to degrade 2-CB. Furthermore, the activation mechanism was elucidated by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and salicylic acid (SA) trapping techniques. The results showed that biochar contains persistent free radicals (PFRs), typically ∼ 10(18) unpaired spins/gram. Higher trapped [(•)OH] concentrations were observed with larger decreases in PFRs concentration, when H2O2 was added to biochar, indicating that PFRs were the…

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