MOF-derived biochar composites for enhanced high performance photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride

Zhiwei Liu; Yi Li; Chen Li; Kunyapat Thummavichai; Chen Feng; Zhen Li; Song Liu; Shenghua Zhang; Nannan Wang; Yanqiu Zhu

doi:10.1039/d2ra05819g

MOF-derived biochar composites for enhanced high performance photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride

RSC Adv. 2022 Nov 8;12(49):31900-31910. doi: 10.1039/d2ra05819g. eCollection 2022 Nov 3.

Authors

Zhiwei Liu¹, Yi Li¹, Chen Li¹, Kunyapat Thummavichai^{2

3}, Chen Feng¹, Zhen Li¹, Song Liu¹, Shenghua Zhang¹, Nannan Wang¹, Yanqiu Zhu^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Guangxi Institute Fullerene Technology (GIFT), Key Laboratory of New Processing Technology for Nonferrous Metals and Materials, Ministry of Education, School of Resources, Environment and Materials. Guangxi University Nanning 530004 China shzhang@gxu.edu.cn wangnannan@gxu.edu.cn.
² College of Engineering, Department of Mathematics and Physical Sciences, University of Exeter Exeter EX4 4QF UK.
³ Faculty of Engineering and Environment, Northumbria University Newcastle Upon Tyne NE1 8ST UK.

Abstract

Biochar reinforced advanced nanocomposites are of interest to a wide circle of researchers. Herein, we describe a novel MOF-derived reinforced cow dung biochar composite, which was prepared by a one-step hydrothermal method to form the MOF MIL-125(Ti) onto a nitrogen and sulfur co-doped bio-carbon (NSCDBC). The UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectrum of NSCDBC/MIL-125(Ti) exhibits an extension of light absorption in the visible region (360-800 nm), indicating its higher visible light capture capacity relative to pure MIL-125(Ti). The photocatalytic activity results show that all the NSCDBC/MIL-125(Ti) composite samples, namely NSCM-5, NSCM-10, NSCM-20 and NSCM-30 display good performance in the removal of tetracycline hydrochloride compared to pure MIL-125(Ti). Among them, NSCM-20 exhibits the highest catalytic activity with a removal rate of 94.62%, which is attributed to the excellent adsorption ability of NSCDBC and the ability to inhibit the complexation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Photoluminescence verifies that the loading of biochar successfully enhances the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. Subsequently, the active species in the photocatalytic process are identified by using electron spin resonance spin-trap techniques and free radical trapping experiments. Finally, the possible reaction mechanism for the photocatalytic process is revealed. These results confirm that NSCDBC/MIL-125(Ti) is a potentially low-cost, green photocatalyst for water quality improvement.