The novel Fe-N co-doped ordered mesoporous carbon with high catalytic activity in

m

-cresol removal was prepared by urea-assisted impregnation and simple pyrolysis method. During the preparation of the Fe-NC catalyst

the complexation of N elements in urea could anchor Fe

and the formation of C

3

N

4

during urea pyrolysis could also prevent migration and aggregation of Fe species

which jointly improve the dispersion and stability of Fe. The FeN

4

sites and highly dispersed Fe nanoparticles synergistically trigger the dual-site peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation for highly efficient

m

-cresol degradation

while the ordered mesoporous structure of the catalyst could improve the mass transfer rate of the catalytic process

which together promote catalytic degradation of

m

-cresol by PMS activation. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) analytic experiments demonstrate that the system degrades

m

-cresol by free radical pathway mainly based on SO

4

-

· and ·OH

and partially based on ·OH as the active components

and a possible PMS activation mechanism by 5Fe-50 for

m

-cresol degradation was proposed. This

study can provide theoretical guidance for the preparation of efficient and stable catalysts for the degradation of organic pollutants by activated PMS.