Nickel-doped Mn2O3 catalyst activates PMS to remove bisphenol A in laboratory tests

A laboratory catalyst study reported that nickel-doped Mn2O3 activated peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to remove bisphenol A (BPA). The optimized material, designated 20-NMO, degraded 93.56% of BPA within 8 minutes at neutral pH, according to the study abstract. The researchers also reported a mineralization efficiency of 82.38% and a kinetic rate constant of 0.3438 min−1, approximately 2.18 times the value measured for pristine Mn2O3.

The catalysts were developed by co-precipitation. According to the abstract, this approach introduced bimetallic redox couples, identified as Mn4+/Mn3+/Mn2+ and Ni3+/Ni2+, while allowing the researchers to control the concentration of oxygen vacancies in the doped material. Density functional theory calculations indicated that nickel doping optimized the electronic structure of Mn2O3, facilitating interfacial charge transfer and PMS activation. These computational results support the proposed mechanism, but the abstract does not establish how closely the calculations reproduce the measured degradation process.

Quenching experiments, electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy and in situ Raman measurements were used to investigate the reaction mechanism. The study identified superoxide radicals (O2•−) and singlet oxygen (1O2) as the main reactive oxygen species involved in BPA degradation. Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry was used to examine the degradation pathway. The abstract further reports that toxicity software, ECOSAR, indicated the safety of the 20-NMO/PMS system. However, the available evidence does not establish that the pathway was complete, that all resulting products were harmless, or that the system was compared directly with BPA toxicity.

The reported results apply to controlled BPA degradation experiments using the tested catalyst and PMS system; they do not demonstrate treatment performance in real wastewater, other environmental matrices, or with contaminants other than BPA. The abstract also does not provide evidence on long-term catalyst stability or scale-up. Because only the abstract was available for this report, detailed experimental conditions and the full supporting data could not be assessed. Overall, the study links nickel-associated bimetallic redox cycling and oxygen-vacancy engineering with enhanced PMS activation in a laboratory Mn2O3-based catalyst.

Subject of Research: Laboratory evaluation of nickel-doped Mn2O3 for peroxymonosulfate activation and bisphenol A degradation

Article Title: Synergistic Mn-Ni dual-metal redox cycles and oxygen vacancies engineering in doped Mn2O3 for ultrafast PMS activation toward BPA degradation

Article References: Yu, X., Wu, R., Zhang, H., Feng, J., Bai, C., Ren, Y., & Zhao, L. (2026). Synergistic Mn-Ni dual-metal redox cycles and oxygen vacancies engineering in doped Mn2O3 for ultrafast PMS activation toward BPA degradation. Journal of Materials Science, 61(42), 33129-33148. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-026-13584-0

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s10853-026-13584-0

Keywords: nickel-doped Mn2O3, peroxymonosulfate activation, bisphenol A degradation, oxygen vacancies, reactive oxygen species, water treatment catalysts, electron transfer, density functional theory, spectroscopy, ECOSAR, Synergistic, Mn-Ni