Free Channel Formation around Graphitic Carbon Nitride Embedded in Porous Polyethylene Terephthalate Nanofibers with Excellent Reusability for Eliminating Antibiotics under Solar Irradiation

Abstract

The sublethal content of antibiotics in the environment brings added urgency to degrade antibiotics to prevent the growth of antibiotic resistance and the accompanying public health crisis. Herein, we adopted a rational and intriguing strategy for constructing a porous, supported photocatalyst. A solution containing graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4), polyethylene glycol (PEG), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) was electrospun, and followed by a postprocessing to remove the PEG, porous nanofibers (g-C3N4@PET) were obtained. Meanwhile, the g-C3N4@PET morphology and composition were determined by a series of analysis techniques. The g-C3N4/PET exhibits several favorable characteristics, namely, (i) it is easy to create more active sites due to the formation of pores throughout the nanofibers and the successful embedding of g-C3N4, (ii) the interconnected channel is beneficial for catalyst–antibiotics contact and light absorption, and (iii) it possesses high photocatalytic performance and reusability, avoi...