Heterogeneous photo-Fenton process over magnetically recoverable MnFe2O4/MXene hierarchical heterostructure for boosted degradation of tetracycline

Abstract

Heterogeneous photo-Fenton technology is a kind of technology based on the in-situ generation of highly active and oxidized free radicals that can degrade most of the organic pollutants. As for the study, MnFe2O4/MXene (Ti3C2Tx) composites were obtained from a simple calcination strategy for photo-Fenton degradation of tetracycline (TC). The results of the characterization exhibit that MXene nanosheets could uniformly dispersed MnFe2O4 nanoparticles, which both improved the utilization rate of visible light over MnFe2O4 and effectively alleviate the agglomeration of MnFe2O4 nanoparticles as a support. The optimal sample (MT-10) displays the outstanding degradation efficiency (93.8%) of TC under the conditions of TC concentration (10 mg/L), catalyst dosage (100 mg/L), H2O2 dose (0.4 mL) and pH value (pH = 3). In addition, the as-prepared MnFe2O4/MXene composite also shows good cycle stability, magnetic recovery, and low biotoxicity. These findings expand the scope of MXene in synthesizing and designing efficient and stable composite material in environmental remediation field.