Inspired by the cocktail effect to prepare porous carbon with high removal performance: the critical role of sp3-C and CO in adsorption and degradation on porous carbon.

Identifying the active sites for adsorption and degradation of pollutants in porous carbon is crucial for the porous carbon/persulfate (PDS) decontamination system, yet the identified active sites remain controversial. To address this issue, a porous carbon with both high adsorption capacity and efficient electron transfer (or sp2 C content) is first required, but both are mutually limited. Herein, a series of porous carbons (TPS34C-Y) was effectively prepared using a simple process that involved varying the gas atmosphere (i.e., N2, CO2, air, and steam) during the activation of the pine sawdust (PS)/triphenylphosphine oxide (TO) blends. Notably, the porous carbon fabricated at the air atmosphere and 800 °C temperature (i.e., TPS34C-air) achieved the highest specific surface area (2054.09 m2/g). Not only that, the adsorption capacity of bisphenol A (BPA) by TPS34C-air reached 623.23 mg/g within 60 min. After coupling with PDS, the removal capacity of BPA increased to ∼900.00 mg/g, with the oxidation (i.e., degradation) removal capacity reaching ∼261.10 mg/g. Besides, sp3 C was identified as an adsorption site in a range by correlating the BPA adsorption capacity with texture properties, functional group content, sp3 C, and sp2 C. Similarly, CO can be the primary degradation site in a range, as indicated by correlations between BPA degradation capacity and sp2 C, sp3 C, sp2 C/sp3 C, CO, and CO/C-OH. Encouragingly, the TPS34C-air/PDS system was dominated by the electron transfer pathway (ETP). The present work offers considerable data for identifying adsorption and surface degradation sites in the porous carbon/PDS decontamination system.