Titanosilicate ETS‐10 Molecular Sieve Anchored Silver Nanoparticles for Efficient Photocatalytic Degradation of Tetracycline Hydrochloride: Synergetic Effect of H2O2 and Ag/ETS‐10 under Visible Light

Abstract

AbstractHerein, a facile and effective photocatalytic method for the degradation of the tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) was proposed. The photocatalyst Ag/ETS‐10 was prepared by photoreduction, using cubic‐structured EST‐10 molecular sieves as the support for the silver nanoparticles. The synthesized photocatalyst Ag/ETS‐10 has small characteristic peaks and a chemical shift of Ag, resulting in a redshift. The results of photocatalytic experiments show that H2O2‐promoted Ag/ETS‐10 exhibits a superior visible‐light photocatalytic performance, and the degradation rate of TCH (50 mg L−1) is up to 94.9 % within 100 min, which is significantly better than pure ETS‐10 (23.9 %) and Ag/ETS‐10 (26.9 %). The reaction rate constant of H2O2‐promoted Ag/ETS‐10 is 17.75 and 31.55 times of those of ETS‐10 and Ag/ETS‐10, respectively. More importantly, the photocatalytic activity of H2O2‐promoted Ag/ETS‐10 remains stable after four cycles. The outstanding photocatalytic performance is due to the synergistic interaction of H2O2 with Ag/ETS‐10 to promote the rapid separation of photo‐generated electron‐hole pairs and enhance the generation of h+ and ⋅O2− radicals. In addition, the presence of silver induces the surface plasmon resonance effect and acts as a good acceptor for photogenerated e− in the photocatalytic reaction, enhancing the photocatalytic activities. This work provides a new insight for the design and synthesis of stable and efficient photocatalysts for visible light degradation of antibiotics.