Iron boride boosted Fenton oxidation: Boron species induced sustainable Fe III /Fe II redox couple.

The regeneration of Fe(II) is the rate-limiting step in the Fenton/Fenton-like chain reactions that seriously hinder their scientific progress towards practical application. In this study, we proposed iron boride (FeB) for the first time as a new material to sustainably decompose H ₂ O ₂ to generate hydroxyl radicals, which can non-selectively degrade a wide array of refractory organic pollutants. Fe(II) can be steadily released by the stepwise oxidation of FeB to stimulate Fenton reaction, meanwhile, B-B bonds as electron donors on the surface of FeB effectively promote the regeneration of Fe(II) from Fe(III) species and significantly accelerate the production of hydroxyl radicals. The low generation of toxic by-products and the high utilization rate of iron species validly avoid the secondary organic/metal pollution in the FeB/H ₂ O ₂ system. Therefore, FeB mediated Fenton oxidation provides a novel strategy to realize a green and long-lasting environmental remediation.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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