Strain‒induced spin regulation of stepped Co(111) for boosting peracetic acid magnetocatalysis

Atomic site-specific reactivity induced by the lattice distortion has garnered increasing research interest for advancing the heterogeneous catalytic conversions, owing to strain-field-tunable electronic structure of the distorted active sites. Here, we prepare the catalysts with reactive center of ferromagnetically nanoparticulate cobalt that is fully exposed by the Co(111) lattice plane with increasing strain. Such sites can boost peracetic acid (PAA) utilization under a mild magnetic field (MF, maximum 500 mT) to produce a bulk of reactive species with high ratio 93.1% R-O• for sulfamethoxazole abatement and thus attain high-effective greener decontamination for water remediations. Spin‒polarized density functional theory and experimental results collectively confirm strain-induced spin modulation at Co(111) step A sites as a critical reactivity determinant. This work integrates MF into PAA utilization and thus provides a perspective on improving the atomic economies of developing ferromagnetic nanoparticulated metal sites into water remediation in low-energy utilization route.