Molecularly imprinted polyaniline immobilized on Fe3O4/ZnO composite for selective degradation of amoxycillin under visible light irradiation

Abstract

In the present study, molecularly imprinted polyaniline was immobilized on Fe3O4/ZnO composite by surface imprinting technique. The obtained molecularly imprinted photocatalyst was used for selective degradation of amoxycillin under visible light irradiation. The presence of Fe3O4 not only endowed the photocatalyst with magnetic separation feature but also enhanced visible light harvesting ability. Compared with Fe3O4/ZnO composite, photocatalytic performance of the molecularly imprinted photocatalyst was significantly improved because polyaniline could form a heterojunction with ZnO to enhance photocatalytic performance. The molecularly imprinted photocatalyst displayed better photocatalytic efficiency and selective photodegradation activity towards amoxycillin than the non-imprinted photocatalyst, because the photodegradation reaction could take place not only on surface of the photocatalyst but also in imprinted cavities for the molecularly imprinted photocatalyst, while the photodegradation only occurred on surface of the non-imprinted photocatalyst. Active species capture experiments showed that .O2- and h+ played a crucial role in the degradation of amoxycillin. The current research provided new insight for fabrication of molecularly imprinted photocatalyst with selective degradation ability for organic pollutants.