Chunxiang Lin

An intelligent cellulose-based sorbent (Cell-Azo) was developed by grafting azobenzene onto cellulose via atom-transfer radical polymerization, enabling the light-driven solid-phase extraction of amphetamine (AMP). Successful grafting was verified by FT-IR and XPS, with UV-vis spectroscopy demonstrating the rapid and reversible trans-cis isomerization upon alternating UV/visible light irradiation. Batch adsorption studies revealed a maximum capacity of 19.86 mg·g^-1 at pH 9.0, governed by synergistic electrostatic, π-π stacking, and hydrogen-bonding interactions. The core functionality of the switch was demonstrated by triggering AMP release with UV light, achieving a high desorption efficiency of 90.54%, significantly surpassing the -1), low LOD (7 μg·L^-1) and LOQ (23.33 μg·L^-1), and satisfactory precision (RSD < 5.1%). When applied to spiked urine samples, the method achieved recoveries of 69.53-75.68%, demonstrating the potential application of Cell-Azo as an efficient, green, and controllable alternative for trace AMP analysis in complex matrices.

Rapid, sensitive, and reliable analysis of trace organic pollutants such as organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in aqueous matrices is critical for water quality assessment.

Depolymerizing lignin to produce high-value chemicals has garnered increasing attention. Given the complex structure of real lignin, the cracking efficiency of β-O-4 linkages and the selectivity of depolymerization products are significantly lower than those of lignin model compounds. Meanwhile, the relationship between the structure of lignin and the β-O-4 linkage cracking was ignored. In this work, to well address the issue, three real lignins (corncob lignin (CL), pinus massoniana lignin (PML), and eucalyptus lignin (EL)) were employed to discuss the impacts of special ether bonds in lignin on the β-O-4 linkage cracking in the no-additional-hydrogen catalytic system mediated by a CoNi₂@BTC catalyst. The lignin depolymerization results showed that the ether bonding structure in the lignin significantly impacted the cracking of β-O-4 linkages and selectivity of the final products, resulting in a great difference among their intermediates. Notably, the methoxy groups in the real lignin greatly inhibited the further hydrogenation of phenolic compounds, resulting in the accumulation of abundant methoxy-substituted phenolic compounds and a low yield of cycloalkanes (12.37% to 14.06%). To deeply discuss the β-O-4 linkage cracking in the lignin depolymerization, degradation experiments with coexisting ether bond compounds were performed, and the activation energy was employed to quantitatively evaluate the impacts of other ether bonds on the β-O-4 linkage cracking. The results revealed that multiple ether bonds (α-O-4, 4-O-5, and methoxy group) significantly increased the activation energy (from 236% to 373%) of β-O-4 linkages, resulting in the evident decline in the β-O-4 model compound. In addition, the degradation of the methoxy-substituted β-O-4 model compound (GG) demonstrated that the methoxy-substituted aromatic ring products were resistant to further hydrogenation, resulting in the accumulation of methoxy-substituted aromatic ring products in the depolymerization of real lignin. All the findings will provide a novel perspective for the targeted high-value utilization of real lignin in chemical production.

A synergistic photocatalytic system based on Fe-based perovskite with persulfate was constructed for alkali lignin (AL) degradation in pulp and paper wastewater. The degradation performance and mechanism on AL were carried out under ambient temperature and pressure, accompanied by visible light irradiation. The results showed that the synergistic photocatalytic system exhibited much better performance on AL degradation than the single catalytic system. The degradation efficiency reached 73.5% under the optimal conditions and was constant at around 65% over the pH range from 2 to 8. A significant escalation of the AL degradation was observed at pH 10, reaching 80.1%. The photogenerated holes, ¹O₂ and SO₄⁻·, generated by the system were involved in the degradation, and the holes played a dominant role. During the degradation process, the efficient promotion of cleavage events in lignin methoxy, β-O-4 bond, and benzene ring was observed. Consequently, the depolymerization process led to the generation of high-value compounds, namely p-hydroxybenzaldehyde and vanillin. Remarkably, the yields of the high-value compounds in the synergistic photocatalytic system were five times larger than those in the control. This study offered a viable method to activate persulfate for alkali lignin degradation and to achieve a mutually beneficial strategy for wastewater treatment and recycling.

Developing the Co-based catalysts with high reactivity for the sulfate radical (SO₄⁻·)–based advanced oxidation processes (SR-AOPs) has been attracting numerous attentions. To improve the peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation process, a novel Co-based catalyst simultaneously modified by bamboo carbon (BC) and vanadium (V@CoO-BC) was fabricated through a simple solvothermal method. The atenolol (ATL) degradation experiments in V@CoO-BC/PMS system showed that the obtained V@CoO-BC exhibited much higher performance on PMS activation than pure CoO, and the V@CoO-BC/PMS system could fully degrade ATL within 5 min via the destruction of both radicals (SO₄⁻· and O₂⁻·^·) and non-radicals (¹O₂). The quenching experiments and electrochemical tests revealed that the enhancing mechanism of bamboo carbon and V modification involved four aspects: (i) promoting the PMS and Co ion adsorption on the surface of V@CoO-BC; (ii) enhancing the electron transfer efficiency between V@CoO-BC and PMS; (iii) activating PMS with V³⁺ species; (iv) accelerating the circulation of Co²⁺ and Co³⁺, leading to the enhanced yield of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Furthermore, the V@CoO-BC/PMS system also exhibited satisfactory stability under broad pH (3–9) and good efficiency in the presence of co-existing components (HCO₃⁻, NO₃⁻, Cl⁻, and HA) in water. This study provides new insights to designing high-performance, environment-friendly bimetal catalysts and some basis for the remediation of antibiotic contaminants with SR-AOPs.