Abstract: The efficient treatment of organic pollutant-containing wastewater is of great significance for water environmental safety and sustainable resource development. Although peroxymonosulfate (PMS)-based advanced oxidation processes have demonstrated unique advantages in the degradation of organic pollutants, the development of practical catalysts that combine high activity, stability, and low cost remains a major challenge in this field. In this study, a coal-based rare earth-transition metal multicomponent catalyst (Vm@PC-FeCoNiSm) was synthesized via plasma-assisted ball milling and applied in a PMS activation system for organic pollutant tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) degradation. The results show that the as-prepared catalyst exhibits a uniform microrod morphology with a micro-mesoporous composite structure and a high specific surface area of 789.2 m²/g. Under the conditions of 2.0 mmol/L PMS and 0.10 g/L catalyst, Vm@PC-FeCoNiSm achieves 96.3% degradation of TC within 30 min, which is significantly higher than that of the sample prepared without plasma treatment. After five consecutive cycles, the degradation efficiency remains above 91%, and the catalyst maintains stable degradation performance in real water matrices. The degradation process is driven by both radical (O₂^•-, •OH, SO₄^•-) and non-radical (¹O₂) pathways, with O₂^•- and ¹O₂ playing dominant roles. The electronic synergistic effect between the rare earth element Sm and the transition metals is critical for enhancing PMS activation efficiency and generating highly reactive species. This study not only provides a high-performance material for the advanced treatment of complex organic wastewater, but also offers a new strategy and theoretical basis for the high-value utilization of coal-based carbon materials and rare earth elements in environmental catalysis.

Key words: coal-based rare earth catalyst, plasma-assisted ball milling, tetracycline hydrochloride, degradation performance