Synergic removal of tetracycline using hydrophilic three-dimensional nitrogen-doped porous carbon embedded with copper oxide nanoparticles by coupling adsorption and photocatalytic oxidation processes

Yiping Su; Shun Li; Guimin Jiang; Zuquan Zheng; Chao Wang; Shiyin Zhao; Daling Cui; Yong Liu; Boping Zhang; Zuotai Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.jcis.2020.07.071

Synergic removal of tetracycline using hydrophilic three-dimensional nitrogen-doped porous carbon embedded with copper oxide nanoparticles by coupling adsorption and photocatalytic oxidation processes

J Colloid Interface Sci. 2021 Jan 1;581(Pt A):350-361. doi: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.07.071. Epub 2020 Jul 20.

Authors

Yiping Su¹, Shun Li², Guimin Jiang³, Zuquan Zheng³, Chao Wang³, Shiyin Zhao³, Daling Cui⁴, Yong Liu⁴, Boping Zhang⁵, Zuotai Zhang⁶

Affiliations

¹ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, Guangdong, China; Beijing Key Lab of New Energy Materials and Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China.
² School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, Guangdong, China; Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, Guangdong, China; Foshan (Southern China) Institute for New Materials, Foshan 528200, Guangdong, China. Electronic address: lis3@sustech.edu.cn.
³ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, Guangdong, China.
⁴ Foshan (Southern China) Institute for New Materials, Foshan 528200, Guangdong, China.
⁵ Beijing Key Lab of New Energy Materials and Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China.
⁶ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Soil and Groundwater Pollution Control, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, Guangdong, China. Electronic address: zhangzt@sustech.edu.cn.

PMID: 32771744
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2020.07.071

Abstract

Adsorption and photocatalytic oxidation are promising technologies for eliminating antibiotics (e.g. tetracycline) in aquatic environments. However, traditional powdery nanomaterials are limited by drawbacks of difficult separation and lack of synergistic function, which do not conform to the practical demand. Herein, we developed a simple one-step gelation-pyrolysis route to fabricate hydrophilic three-dimensional (3D) porous photocatalytic adsorbent, in which CuO nanoparticles are uniformly and firmly embedded in nitrogen-doped (N-doped) porous carbon frameworks. The obtained N-doped carbon/CuO bulky composites exhibited excellent ability to adsorb tetracycline hydrochloride (TC), which was subsequently photo-oxidized under visible light. Their hydrophilic nature favors the adsorption processes toward TC, with a maximum adsorption capacity reaching 25.03 mg∙g^-1. In addition, >94.4% of TC molecules could be photo-degraded in 4 h with good cycling efficiency after three consecutive tests. Finally, a reaction scheme for removal process of TC was proposed. The obtained 3D porous N-doped carbon/CuO nanocomposites show great promise for efficient removal of antibiotics in aqueous solution by synergistically utilizing adsorption and photocatalytic oxidation processes.

Keywords: Adsorption; Hydrophilic; Photocatalysis; Porous composite; Tetracycline.

MeSH terms

Adsorption
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Carbon
Catalysis
Copper
Nanoparticles*
Nitrogen
Porosity
Tetracycline*
Water

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents
Water
Carbon
Copper
Tetracycline
Nitrogen