Abstract
Antibiotics can affect ecosystems and threaten human health; therefore, methods for removing antibiotics have become a popular subject in environmental management and for the protection of human health. Adsorption is considered an effective approach for the removal of antibiotics from water. In this study, NiFe2O4@nitrogen-doped carbon hollow spheres (NiFe2O4/NCHS) were synthesized via a facile hydrothermal method followed by calcination using NCHS as a hard template. The nanocomposite exhibited high adsorption activity and good recyclability. The nanocomposite was characterized by X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and nitrogen adsorption–desorption to study its micromorphology, structure, and chemical composition/states. In addition, the factors affecting the adsorption process were systematically investigated, including tetracycline (TC) concentration, solution pH, ionic strength, and temperature. The maximum adsorption capacity for TC was calculated to be 271.739 mg g−1 based on the Langmuir adsorption model, which was higher than various other materials. This study provides an effective method for constructing the NiFe2O4/NHCS core–shell structure, which can be applied for the removal of TC from water.
Highlights
The surface chemical composition and structure of the NiFe2O4/Ndoped carbon hollow spheres (NCHS) were further studied with the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectra
The regeneration efficiency of NiFe2O4/NCHS and removal ratio of TC was illustrated in Fig. S6.† It was clearly observed that the adsorption capacity of NiFe2O4/NCHS decreased with the increment in the times of adsorption–desorption of the adsorbent, the removal ratio of tetracycline was maintained at 80% or more a er ve times of adsorption–desorption cycles of the adsorbent with NaOH(0.001 M)/NH3$H2O(0.01 M), which indicated that NiFe2O4/NCHS had a relatively good reusability and were a promising candidate for tetracycline adsorption in the practical condition.[56,57,58,59,60,61,62]
NiFe2O4/NCHS was prepared via a simple hydrothermal method followed by calcination using NCHS as a hard template
Summary
Antibiotics have been one of the greatest discoveries for humans, and various types of antibiotics have been excessively used in human and veterinary medicine, and in aquaculture.[1,2,3] the widespread use of antibiotics and the large amounts excreted by humans and animals have resulted in increasingly more pharmaceuticals being discharged into wastewaters and manures, which have led to adverse effects on ecosystem health.[4,5] the development of efficient methods to effectively eliminate antibiotics from wastewater is an important research topic for human health and environmental system management. Transition-metal oxides such as ZnFe2O4, MnFe2O4, and NiFe2O4 have attracted extensive attention as anode materials,[25,26,27] photocatalyst materials,[28,29] electronics materials,[30] and solar cell materials[31] because of their low cost, excellent visible light response, and good photochemical stability Seldomly have these transition-metal oxides been used as adsorption materials. The results from the present study provide a practical method for the removal of TCs from water This magnetic material may have potential practical uses in sensors and for energy storage
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