Highly efficient photocatalytic degradation of the Tetracycline hydrochloride on the α-Fe2O3@CN composite under the visible light

Abstract

Tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) poses serious human as well as an ecological concern due to its persistence nature. In today’s world, an approach for its decontamination using heterostructure photocatalysts has become a very promising method. This present work synthesized α-Fe2O3 without using NH3·H2O and achieved the composite (α-Fe2O3@CN) without calcination. The characterization of the composite was done by XRD, FT-IR, SEM, DRS, XPS, PL, and EIS to confirm the bandgap, functional groups, spherical structure of the α-Fe2O3, its ability to absorb visible light, detection of elements (Fe, O, C and N), and the charge separation. During research work, results indicated the proper ratio of α-Fe2O3 and CN to enhance the bandgap and to speed-up the photodegradation of the TC. As compared with pure α-Fe2O3 and CN, the composite α-Fe2O3@CN exhibited more effective photocatalytic TC degradation under the visible-light spectrum. An obvious enhancement is observed when α-Fe2O3 is coupled onto CN with an optimum loading rate, i.e., α-Fe2O3@1.5 CN, which had the highest removal efficiency due to a better distribution of α-Fe2O3 on CN nanosheets, leading to the production of ROS (•O2− and •OH radical) species. It also limits the electron and hole recombination and synergies the photodegradation of TC, suggesting a potential environmental application. The composite α-Fe2O3@1.5 CN exhibited 3.25- and 1.75-times better degradation as compared to CN and α-Fe2O3 respectively. Results also compared the different loading rates of α-Fe2O3 and CN, indicating that the degradation of α-Fe2O3@1.5 CN is 1.66- and 2.45- times better than α-Fe2O3@0.75 CN and α-Fe2O3@3.0 CN respectively. The stability of the photocatalyst was investigated through the cyclic process. The results showed that washing five times had no significant effect on the rate of degradation.