Human-Hair-Derived N, S-Doped Porous Carbon: An Enrichment and Degradation System for Wastewater Remediation in the Presence of Peroxymonosulfate

Biomass is a promising raw material for synthesizing heteroatom-doped carbon due to its cheap cost and easy availability. Herein, we fabricate nitrogen and sulfur codoped carbon (NSC) with extremely high specific surface areas (BET surface areas of 3015 m 2 /g) by employing human hair as the precursor. The graphitization degree, N/S doping content, and pore structures of NSC can be easily modulated by the heat treatment conditions. Besides, NSC obtained at 800 °C (NSC-800) even outperforms most traditional metal-based catalysts under the same conditions for BPA degradation. Influences of various operating parameters (NSC, Oxone, and BPA concentration) and the inorganic salts/humic acid (HA) on BPA degradation are comprehensively studied. Furthermore, quenching experiments and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements prove that 1 O 2 should be the main active species generated from PMS activation, and the contribution of •OH/SO 4 •– is very limited. This work is expected to arouse more interests about biomass-derived carbon for PMS activation and environmental remediation.