Construction of Fe3O4/FeP Binary Composite Catalyst for Degradation of Tetracycline in Wastewater

Abstract

The abuse of antibiotics greatly aggravates water pollution. Tetracycline hydrochloride (TC), has been widely used all over the world as a typical antibiotic. In order to dispose of TC, a series of Fe3O4/FeP composite materials were synthesized with the combination of hydrothermal synthesis and partial phosphating annealing method. Meanwhile, the morphology and structural characteristics were investigated using characterization such as diffraction of X-rays (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), electro-chemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) etc. The dark adsorption and photocatalytic activity of Fe3O4/FeP were investigated comprehensively to remove the target molecule tetracycline. Results indicated that Fe3O4/FeP catalysts have a superior performance on dark adsorption, and good effect of TC degradation. Among synthesized photocatalysts, Fe3O4/FeP-6 (molar ratios of Fe:P at 1:6) possessed the optimized performance in adsorption capacity and photodegradation efficiency (88%) comparing to the other ratios. Furthermore, the stability and reusability of Fe3O4/FeP-6 ensured the cyclic photocatalysis experiment. This synthesized catalyst has proved its potential application in wastewater treatment.