Enhanced Removal of Veterinary Antibiotic Florfenicol by a Cu-Based Fenton-like Catalyst with Wide pH Adaptability and High Efficiency

[Image: see text] The study on the removal of refractory veterinary antibiotic florfenicol (FF) in water is still very limited. In this study, an efficient Fenton-like catalyst was developed by synthesizing a series of Cu-based multi-metal layered double hydroxides (CuNiFeLa-LDHs) to degrade FF in aqueous solution. In the experiments, the screened CuNiFeLa-2-LDH with the molar ratio of La(3+)/(Fe(3+) + La(3+)) = 0.1 exhibited high catalytic activity, achieving almost complete degradation of 5 mg L(–1) FF under 5 mmol L(–1) H(2)O(2) conditions. The mechanisms revealed that the enhanced catalytic performance was ascribed to the existence of Ni which accelerated the electron transfer rate and La which served as a Lewis acidic site to provide more reactive sites in this Cu-dominated Fenton-like reaction, further generating (•)OH, (•)O(2)(–), and O(2)(1) as active species to attack pollutants directly. Interestingly, the catalyst showed a wide pH adaptability and little release of copper ions to the solution. The regenerated CuNiFeLa-2-LDH is demonstrated to be a stable and reliable material for florfenicol degradation.