Iranian Journal of Chemical Engineering (IJChE)
Scientific Journal

ZIF-67 Derived N-Doped Carbon-Co₃O₄ Catalyst: A Synergistic System for Azithromycin Degradation via Persulfate Activation

Articles in Press

Document Type : Regular Article

Authors

Mohammad Varasteh 1
Golshan Mazloom 1
Milad Ghani 2
Farhad Banisharif 3

1 Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and technology, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran

2 Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran

3 School of Chemical, Petroleum and Gas Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran

10.22034/ijche.2026.593911.1607
Abstract
The continuous pollution of freshwater sources with contaminants such as azithromycin (AZ) poses great ecological problems. This work studied the performance of Co3O4 supported over N-doped carbon catalyst (Co3O4@N-C), obtained from pyrolysis and oxidation of ZIF-67, in AZ degradation using sodium persulfate (PS) as oxidant. The catalyst exhibited high activity, achieving 96.7% overall AZ removal in the selected conditions (0.4 g/L catalyst, 1.5 mM PS, pH 9, during 60 min), which was significantly higher than pristine Co3O4. Mechanistic studies indicated sulfate and hydroxyl radicals were involved in the reaction. In addition, the catalyst retained its efficiency 0ver 85% after five cycles. The enhanced performance of the catalyst was attributed to the combined characteristic of the polyhedral Co3O4 framework facilitating active site exposure, the proposed Co2+/Co3+ redox process contributing to PS activation, and nitrogen-doped carbon modifying the electronic properties of the carbon support and providing favorable sites for electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding with AZ. Furthermore, a reaction mechanism was also proposed.

Keywords

Azithromycin
ZIF-67 Derived
Co3O4
Degradation
Subjects
Iranian Journal of Chemical Engineering (IJChE)

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 08 November 2026

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