Constructing nano-heterojunction of MOFs with crystal regrowth for efficient degradation of tetracycline under visible light

Abstract

Antibiotic pollution, a kind of important plague to human society, has received increasing attention. The photocatalysis with high degradation efficiency, energy saving, and environmentally friendly, has been becoming one of the most promising wastewater treatment techniques. In this paper, using in-situ hydrothermal synthesis technology, a semiconductor material for photodegradation of antibiotics, SnS2 nanoparticles (SnSPs), was combined onto the surface of Zirconium-based metal organic frames (abbreviated to UiO-66), which afforded a nano-heterojunction of SnS2 nanoparticles@UiO-66 (SnSPs@UiO66), a novel photocatalytic material with regrowth of UiO-66 crystal during the hydrothermal reaction. After combining with metal organic frames (MOFs), the antibiotic degradation performance of SnSPs has been greatly improved because its specific surface areas could be enlarged, and provided more active sites for photocatalytic degradation. The obtained SnSPs@UiO66 was applied to photocatalytic degradation of antibiotics. It showed significant degradation of tetracycline (TC) under visible light irradiation, and the degradation rate got to 90.0% within 75 min, which was 4.3 times and 5.1 times higher than that of pure SnSPs and UiO-66, respectively. The possible photocatalytic mechanism of SnSPs@UiO66 nano-heterojunction was also investigated. In summary, a novel nano-heterojunction photocatalyst was prepared by a simple method, which had excellent application prospect for the treatment of medical wastewater.