{
  "abstract": "The century-old Fenton reaction has been constrained by the kinetic bottleneck of Fe3+/Fe2+ cycling, which demands excessive iron dosing and generates hazardous sludge. Here we report that Fe3+ ions intrinsically bypass this limitation through a remote through-space ligand effect that induces long-range ordering of water molecules beyond the first coordination shell. This ordered hydration network functions as a visible-to-red-light antenna via a collective water-network-to-metal charge transfer mechanism, continuously generating electrons that reduce Fe3+ to Fe2+ without exogenous photocatalysts or chemical reductants. This self-sustaining cycle achieves approximately 80% TOC removal of phenol in a scaled-up 15 L reactor under natural sunlight and sustains approximately 65% TOC removal over 20 consecutive cycles for real pharmaceutical wastewater, with only 1.2% iron loss per cycle and near-zero sludge generation. This work transforms a canonical kinetic barrier into a self-regenerating catalytic platform, uncovering a hydration-driven photochemical route that offers sustainable, sludge-free, sunlight-driven water purification.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Research Center of Ministry of Education for Fine Chemicals",
    "Shanxi University",
    "Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Qi Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Xuan Guo"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Ruihan Wang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Hu Shi"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Jie Wang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Jianghong Zhao"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Hongxia Zhang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Pengju Yang",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4227-2605"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8kyaz1y6dqqar.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15009323/v1",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "8kyaz1y6dqqar",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009323/v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "2312|Advanced oxidation water treatment"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7214117419",
  "pdf_url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/pdf/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009323/v1",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-22",
  "publisher": "American Chemical Society (ACS)",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8kyaz1y6dqqar.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:21Z",
      "native_id": "10.26434/chemrxiv.15009323",
      "source": "chemrxiv",
      "url": "https://chemrxiv.org/doi/full/10.26434/chemrxiv.15009323/v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "earth",
      "origin": "openalex:2312|Advanced oxidation water treatment",
      "subfield": "hydrology-soils"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Self-recycling Fenton chemistry through the ordered hydration shells of Fe",
  "title_text": "Self-recycling Fenton chemistry through the ordered hydration shells of Fe",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:21Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/8kyaz1y6dqqar",
  "venue": "ChemRxiv",
  "versions": []
}