Various pollutants in wastewater derived from industrial and domestic processes are huge threat to human health and environmental safety. Novel porous carbon materials with specially designed surface physiochemical characteristics and pore structures are considered unanimously as one of the most potential candidates for highly efficient removal of pollutants by adsorbing. In this work, based on the inherent character of being positively charged for cationic dye and SARS-CoV-2 virus with unique spike protein, we proposed and developed a new strategy for surface negative ζ potential engineering on porous carbon materials based on Fenton reagent, a mild, eco-friendly but potent free radical provider. After the pretreatment of Fenton reagent, the amount of oxygen-containing functional groups was promoted greatly and then a distinct decrease in ζ potential for the porous carbon materials could be achieved, which enabled a relatively higher binding force between the adsorbent and target adsorbate and thus enhanced the removal performance of methylene blue (585.1 mg·g-1) and SARS-CoV-2 virus-like-particles (98.61 %, 50 g·L-1) accordingly. Therefore, this work not only highlights promising candidates for cationic dye and virus removal but also provides a universal strategy for producing negatively charged porous carbon materials with high feasibility and sustainability.

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