In this study, we systematically investigated the removal of bromate (BrOi) with core-shell Fe@Fe2O3 nanowires at neutral pH, especially the effects of surface bound ferrous ions and molecular oxygen. In the presence of Fe@Fe2O3 nanowires, bromate was reduced to Br- efficiently with the generation of HOBr intermediates. Bromide species analyses and nanowires characterizations indicated that surface bound ferrous ions of core-shell Fe@Fe2O3 nanowires could effectively promote the BrO3- removal. Meanwhile, molecular oxygen competed electrons from both Fe2+ and Fe-0 to generate reactive oxygen species of O-center dot(2)-, H2O2, and OH during the bromate removal process. Among the generated reactive oxygen species, O-center dot(2)- and H2O2 favored of bromate removal, but 'OH inhibited. We proposed a bromate removal mechanism with core-shell Fe@Fe2O3 nanowires, which suggested that the effect of surface bound Fe (II) and molecular oxygen was taken into consideration when using nZVI for bromate remediation in waters. This study can not only deepen our understanding on the bromate removal with zero valent iron, and also shed light on the design of high performance bromate removal materials. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.