{
  "abstract": "Heterogeneous Fenton oxidation is an effective strategy for the removal of organic contaminants from water; however, its practical application is often hindered by narrow pH operating windows and catalyst instability. In this work, metal-supported silicon nitride catalysts (M/Si₃N₄, M = Cu, Fe, Co, Zn) were investigated for the mineralization of Methylene Blue (MB) over a wide pH range (3-8). A novel descriptor, the Heterogeneous Fenton Potential (HFP), is proposed as a simple tool for the preliminary screening of catalytic systems, enabling a qualitative evaluation of their ability to generate reactive oxidizing species from H₂O₂. Among the investigated catalysts, Cu/Si₃N₄ showed superior and pH-resilient performance, achieving nearly complete MB degradation within 5 min and up to 75% Total Organic Carbon (TOC) removal at near-neutral pH (5-6). In contrast, Fe-, Co-, and Zn-based systems exhibited a significant decrease in activity at pH ≥ 6. The enhanced performance of Cu/Si₃N₄ is attributed to the high dispersion of Cu species on the Si₃N₄ support, which facilitates efficient H₂O₂ activation and rapid generation of reactive radicals. These results highlight Cu/Si₃N₄ as a promising catalyst for water treatment applications, combining wide pH operability, high mineralization efficiency, and potential reusability. The proposed approach provides a promising pathway to mitigate the intrinsic pH limitations of conventional Fenton processes, supporting their further development for wastewater treatment.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Dipartimento Politecnico di Ingegneria e Architettura, Università di Udine, INSTM Udine Via del Cotonificio 108 33100 Udine Italy.",
    "Dipartimento di Scienze AgroAlimentari, Ambientali e Animali, Sezione di Chimica, Università di Udine, INSTM Udine Via del Cotonificio 108 33100 Udine Italy eleonora.aneggi@uniud.it.",
    "Department of Chemical Engineering, Barcelona Research Center in Multiscale Science and Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, EEBE Eduard Maristany 10-14 08019 Barcelona Spain.",
    "Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Università di Padova Via Gradenigo, 6/a 35131 Padova Italy."
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Sajid Hussain"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Eleonora Aneggi",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0382-0525"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Walter Baratta",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2648-1848"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Daniele Zuccaccia",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7765-1715"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Jordi Llorca",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7447-9582"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Alessandro Trovarelli",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1396-4031"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        3
      ],
      "name": "Michele Modesti"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Daniele Goi"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0t327p6sb2dpw.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1039/d6ra06509k",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13692716",
  "id": "0t327p6sb2dpw",
  "issns": [
    "2046-2069"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42921333",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "heading",
      "Chemistry"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2312|Advanced oxidation water treatment"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223304666",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13692716?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13692716",
  "pmid": "42921333",
  "published": "2026-10-23",
  "publisher": "Royal Society of Chemistry",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0t327p6sb2dpw.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:33Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42921333",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42921333"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-07T12:23:47Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13692716",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1039/d6ra06509k"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "openalex:2312|Advanced oxidation water treatment",
      "subfield": "hydrology-soils"
    }
  ],
  "title": "pH-resilient Cu/Si₃N₄ catalyst for efficient heterogeneous Fenton mineralization of methylene blue.",
  "title_text": "pH-resilient Cu/Si₃N₄ catalyst for efficient heterogeneous Fenton mineralization of methylene blue.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-08T12:21:07Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/0t327p6sb2dpw",
  "venue": "RSC advances",
  "versions": []
}