Endogenous Substances Utilization for Water Self-Purification Amplification Driven by Nonexpendable H2O2 over a Micro-Potential Difference Surface

Abstract

Natural self-purification of water is limited by mass transfer processes between inert oxygen (O₂) and stable pollutants. This process must rely on large energy inputs and resource consumption, which have become a global challenge in the environmental field. Here, we greatly amplify this self-purification effect of natural dissolved oxygen (DO) by nonexpendable H₂O₂ triggering a DRC catalyst with a micro-potential difference surface. This low-energy strategy is mainly realized by lowering the activation energy barriers of endogenous substances and simultaneously opening the mass transfer channels over the Cu–ZnO surface. In this way, pollutant electrons and energy are efficiently utilized to activate DO. Surprisingly, the rapid degradation of the pollutants is accompanied by H₂O₂ consumption of only 2.6% at most, sometimes even reaching zero consumption, with the instantaneous absolute amount of H₂O₂ exceeding 100%. The typical endocrine disruptor BPA has been proven to be harmlessly degraded to small molecule alcohols and acids by self-purification amplification, including cleavage of stable contaminants on the catalyst surface, activation of natural DO, and enhancement of mass transfer between them.