Abstract
Peracetic acid (PAA) is emerging as a versatile agent for generating long-lived and selectively oxidative organic radicals (R-O(•)). Currently, the conventional transition metal-based activation strategies still suffer from metal ion leaching, undesirable by-products formation, and uncontrolled reactive species production. To address these challenges, we present a method employing BiOI with a unique electron structure as a PAA activator, thereby predominantly generating CH(3)C(O)O(•) radicals. The specificity of CH(3)C(O)O(•) generation ensured the superior performance of the BiOI/PAA system across a wide pH range (2.0 to 11.0), even in the presence of complex interfering substances such as humic acids, chloride ions, bicarbonate ions, and real-world water matrices. Unlike conventional catalytic oxidative methods, the BiOI/PAA system degrades sulfonamides without producing any toxic by-products. Our findings demonstrate the advantages of CH(3)C(O)O(•) in water decontamination and pave the way for the development of eco-friendly water decontaminations based on organic peroxides.