Peroxymonosulfate Activation by Different Synthesized CuFe-MOFs: Application for Dye, Drugs, and Pathogen Removal
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
In this manuscript, three CuFe-MOFs were successfully synthesized by a solvothermal process. These MOFs were used in drugs degradation, RhB removal and antibacterial activity. It is suitable for catalysts and if modify some parts, it would be of interest to researchers in the community.
Comment 1:
There are few grammatical mistakes, please check the manuscript for grammar and English.
Comment 2:
Some related literature could be cited to enrich the introduction part, for example, J. Hazard. Mater., 2021, 406: 124309; J. Colloid Interf. Sci., 2022, 615, 650-662.
Comment 3:
In the manuscript, it is best to display the legend in the diagrams instead of the description in the title of the diagrams.
Comment 4:
The CuFe(BDC-NH2)R showed a lower RhB degradation rate than CuFe(BDC-NH2)S and CuFe(BDC-NH2)D. What is attributed to the phenomenon? More mechanism explanations should be provided.
Comment 5:
The reference format should be standardized, some the references should be fully formatted, such as refs 4, 7, 21 25, 48.
Comment 6:
The legend in Figure 7 cannot be seen clearly.
Author Response
Rw 1
In this manuscript, three CuFe-MOFs were successfully synthesized by a solvothermal process. These MOFs were used in drugs degradation, RhB removal and antibacterial activity. It is suitable for catalysts and if modify some parts, it would be of interest to researchers in the community.
Comment 1:
There are few grammatical mistakes, please check the manuscript for grammar and English.
Answer: The manuscript has been revised and grammatical mistakes were corrected
Comment 2:
Some related literature could be cited to enrich the introduction part, for example, J. Hazard. Mater., 2021, 406: 124309; J. Colloid Interf. Sci., 2022, 615, 650-662.
Answer: Thanks for your comment, the references have been included.
Comment 3:
In the manuscript, it is best to display the legend in the diagrams instead of the description in the title of the diagrams.
Answer: The referee is right, the legends have included into the figures.
Comment 4:
The CuFe(BDC-NH2)R showed a lower RhB degradation rate than CuFe(BDC-NH2)S and CuFe(BDC-NH2)D. What is attributed to the phenomenon? More mechanism explanations should be provided.
Answer: According to referees’ comment new assays of CuFe-MOFs characterization (FTIR and XRD) were included and discussed in the revised version. These analyses explain the difference behavior of the synthesized materials.
Comment 5:
The reference format should be standardized, some the references should be fully formatted, such as refs 4, 7, 21 25, 48.
Answer: Thanks for your comment, all the references have been revised.
Comment 6:
The legend in Figure 7 cannot be seen clearly.
Answer: Following the referees’ comments, the resolution of figure 7 has been improved.
Reviewer 2 Report
Synthesis of CuFe-MOFs with different morphology: Effect on the PMS activation and their application in dye, drugs and pathogen removal This paper used a solvothermal process to prepare three CuFe-MOF, which was used as PMS activator to remove Rhodamine B with high removal rate of 92%. This study provided a new strategy for removal of Rhodamine B. However, there are some minor problems that need to be revised by the authors to improve the quality of the paper. Consequently, I recommend that the manuscript can be published on Catalysts after minor revision. 1). This title is not enough academic, please revise. 2). Please mark the reaction conditions in Figure 1. 3). For the effect of PMS concentration, this analysis is limited, please reference Water Res. 215, 118259 and Water Research 221, 118778. 4). Figure 7 this resolution is low, please change.Author Response
Synthesis of CuFe-MOFs with different morphology: Effect on the PMS activation and their application in dye, drugs and pathogen removal This paper used a solvothermal process to prepare three CuFe-MOF, which was used as PMS activator to remove Rhodamine B with high removal rate of 92%. This study provided a new strategy for removal of Rhodamine B. However, there are some minor problems that need to be revised by the authors to improve the quality of the paper. Consequently, I recommend that the manuscript can be published on Catalysts after minor revision.
Comment 1:
This title is not enough academic, please revise.
Answer: Following the referee comment, the title has been modified.
Comment 2:
Please mark the reaction conditions in Figure 1.
Answer: Thanks for your comment, the reaction conditions have been included in Figure 1.
Comment 3:
For the effect of PMS concentration, this analysis is limited, please reference Water Res. 215, 118259 and Water Research 221, 118778.
Answer: Thanks for your comment, the references have been included to improve the discussion concerning the effect of PMS concentration.
Comment 4:
Figure 7 this resolution is low, please change.
Answer: Following the referees’ comments, the resolution of figure 7 has been improved.
Reviewer 3 Report
Manuscript ID: catalysts-2327662
Type of manuscript: Article
Title: Synthesis of CuFe-MOFs with different morphology: Effect on the PMS
activation and their application in dye, drugs and pathogen removal
Comments:
* Recently, AOPs and SR-AOPs have been widely reported by other researchers. So, the authors should develop and extend this section based on the following works:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2022.114789
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cossms.2021.100965
* The characterization of catalysts is so poor. Please develop this section by consideration of more advanced techniques including XRD, FTIR, BET, etc.
* I also recommend the following reference for comparison and interpretation of the obtained results for experimental works:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2022.139556
* Figure 6: photolysis could be enhanced the activation of oxidants like PMS. So, if one can refer to this figure, the performance of UV/PMS is lower than PMS alone. Why? Clarify it.
* How did you infer the contribution of sulfate and hydroxyl radicals without a trapping test? Which one is dominant during the reaction?
* The contribution of the non-radical pathway should be investigated.
* The reusability and stability of the prepared catalyst should be evaluated. For stability, metal leaching is also required.
* Energy consumption under optimum conditions should be reported.
The total organic carbon (TOC) index must be measured before and after catalytic reaction for dye and drug pollutants.
* The way for representation of legend for the experimental condition in the figure caption is confusing. Please change them.
* Improve the quality and resolution of figure 7. It is not readable.
Author Response
Rw3
Comment 1:
Recently, AOPs and SR-AOPs have been widely reported by other researchers. So, the authors should develop and extend this section based on the following works:
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2022.114789
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cossms.2021.100965
Comment 2:
I also recommend the following reference for comparison and interpretation of the obtained results for experimental works: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2022.139556
Answer: Thanks for your comments, the references have been included and commented in the manuscript.
Comment 3:
The characterization of catalysts is so poor. Please develop this section by consideration of more advanced techniques including XRD, FTIR, BET, etc.
Answer: The referee is right, FTIR and XRD have included into the characterization of CuFe-MOFs.
Comment 4:
Figure 6: photolysis could be enhanced the activation of oxidants like PMS. So, if one can refer to this figure, the performance of UV/PMS is lower than PMS alone. Why? Clarify it.
Answer: The referee is right. This mistake has been corrected.
Comment 5:
How did you infer the contribution of sulfate and hydroxyl radicals without a trapping test? Which one is dominant during the reaction?
Answer: Preliminary experiments were performed with excessive MeOH and TBA as masking agent for sulfate and hydroxyl radical. MeOH has distinct masking effect on both radicals, but TBA only acts on hydroxyl radical. The results indicated the inhibition of dye removal after adding MeOH or TBA, and the inhibiting effect of MeOH is stronger than TBA. The results demonstrate that SO4 are produced in the system and sulfate radical plays a major role.
Comment 6:
How The contribution of the non-radical pathway should be investigated.
Answer: Thank you for your comment. This contribution is usually evaluated when carbonous materials are used. Control experiments using only PMS are considered. In addition, in order to better distinguish the adsorption and activation effects, the adsorption and activation experiments under the same experimental conditions were carried out separately. These experiments revealed a low contribution of non-radical mechanism.
Comment 7:
The reusability and stability of the prepared catalyst should be evaluated. For stability, metal leaching is also required.
Answer: Thank you for your comment. The UVCuFe-MOF/PMS systems were evaluated in seven successive cycles. It was determined that only a slight decrease in the removal efficiency was observed after six cycles, similar to other studies using MOFs as activa-tors for sulfate radicals generation. Both CuFe-MOFs showed higher catalytic ac-tivity after each run, suggesting high stability. Thus, the proposed system presented a good behavior and usability for the removal of the pollutants with low iron and cooper leaching (lower than 5%). This behavior was comparable to reported in the literature in which the mixed metals usually have high stability and low leaching compared to single metals
Comment 8:
Energy consumption under optimum conditions should be reported.
Answer: In this study, a lamp UV-A-LED of 30 W was used. Thus, the energy consumption was low. Based on the time request to obtain the total degradation, the energy consumption was lower 1.5 Wh/ppm.
Comment 9:
The total organic carbon (TOC) index must be measured before and after catalytic reaction for dye and drug pollutants.
Answer: Due to the lack of equipment in our lab, we are unable to determine the TOC concentration at this low value, so the TOC indexes were not included. Nevertheless, the evaluation of carboxylic acids confirms the degradation reactions in the systems examined.
Comment 10:
The way for representation of legend for the experimental condition in the figure caption is confusing. Please change them.
Answer: Following the referees’ comments, the legends have included into the figures.
Comment 11:
Improve the quality and resolution of figure 7. It is not readable.
Answer: Following the referees’ comments, the resolution of figure 7 has been improved.
Round 2
Reviewer 3 Report
The manuscript is currently in good shape, and it can be published in this journal.
Author Response
Thank you for considering our manuscript in good shape for its publication in Catalysts.
