title: Total aerobic destruction of azo contaminants with nanoscale zero-valent copper at neutral pH: promotion effect of in-situ generated carbon center radicals.
abstract: In this study, nanoscale zero-valent copper (nZVC) was synthesized with a facile solvothermal method and used for the aerobic removal of azo contaminants at neutral pH for the first time. We found that both Cu(I) and OH generated during the nZVC induced molecular oxygen activation process accounted for the rapid total destruction of azo contaminants in the nZVC/Air system, where nZVC could activate molecular oxygen to produce H2O2, and also release Cu(I) to break the -NN- bond of azo contaminants via the sandmeyer reaction for the generation of carbon center radicals. The in-situ generated carbon center radicals would then react with OH produced by the Cu(I) catalyzed decomposition of H2O2, resulting in the generation of low molecular weight organic acids and their subsequent mineralization. The indispensible role of Cu(I) catalyzed sandmeyer reaction and the promotion effect of in-situ generated carbon center radicals on the rapid total destruction of azo contaminants in the nZVC/Air system were confirmed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis. This study can deepen our understanding on the degradation of organic pollutant with molecular oxygen activated by zero valent metal, and also provide a new method to remove azo contaminants at neutral pH.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Pesticide & Chemical Biology of Ministry of Education, Institute of Environmental Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Guohui
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Pesticide & Chemical Biology of Ministry of Education, Institute of Environmental Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: jennifer.ai@mail.ccnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Zhihui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ai
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Pesticide & Chemical Biology of Ministry of Education, Institute of Environmental Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: zhanglz@mail.ccnu.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Lizhi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D001391:Azo Compounds / Q000737:chemistry*; D002244:Carbon / Q000737:chemistry*; D003300:Copper / Q000737:chemistry*; D005609:Free Radicals / Q000737:chemistry; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide / Q000737:chemistry; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
chemical_list: D001391:Azo Compounds; D005609:Free Radicals; D002244:Carbon; D003300:Copper; D006861:Hydrogen Peroxide
keywords: Azo contaminants; Carbon center radicals; Molecular oxygen activation; Nanoscale zero-valent copper