A Systematic Review on Persulfate Activation Induced by Functionalized Mesoporous Silica Catalysts for Water Purification

Pei Gao (), Yani Su, Yudie Xie, Jiale Wang, Guoming Zeng and Da Sun ()
Additional contact information
Pei Gao: School of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing 401331, China
Yani Su: School of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing 401331, China
Yudie Xie: School of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing 401331, China
Jiale Wang: School of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing 401331, China
Guoming Zeng: School of Civil and Hydraulic Engineering, Chongqing University of Science and Technology, Chongqing 401331, China
Da Sun: Institute of Life Sciences & Biomedical Collaborative Innovation Center of Zhejiang Province, Wenzhou University, Wenzhou 325000, China

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 20, 1-47

Abstract: The eco-toxicological impacts caused by organic pollutants in aquatic environments have emerged as a global concern in recent decades, resulting from the potential hazards they present to ecosystem integrity and human health. Decorating active components on mesoporous silica is considered a popular approach by which to obtain synergistic effects in persulfate activation for sustainable water decontamination. However, at present there has been no review focusing solely, specifically and comprehensively on this field. Therefore, this paper places an emphasis on the latest research progress on the synthesis and physicochemical properties of functionalized mesoporous silica materials as well as their catalytic performance. The preparation methods included co-condensation, impregnation, grinding–calcination, hydrothermal synthesis and chemical precipitation, and their synthesis parameters played a major role in the characterization of materials, thereby affecting pollutant elimination. Metal redox cycles, nonmetallic activation and confinement effects contributed to persulfate activation. Targeted pollutants were degraded via radical pathways, non-radical pathways, or a combination of the two. The effects and causes of operational conditions (catalyst and persulfate dosage, initial pollutant concentration, temperature, initial pH, co-existing anions, and natural organic matter) varied across the degradation systems, and they were categorized and summarized in detail. Furthermore, functionalized mesoporous silica presented excellent reusability, stability and applicability in practical application. Finally, current potential directions for further research and sustainable development in this field were also prospected. This critical analysis aims to fuel the evolution of functionalized mesoporous silica catalyst-driven persulfate system application in water treatment and to bridge prevailing knowledge gaps.

Keywords: functionalized mesoporous silica; persulfate activation; organic pollutants; oxidation mechanisms; advanced oxidation processes; water purification (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/20/9199/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/20/9199/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:20:p:9199-:d:1773276

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().