In-situ deposition of β-FeOOH nanoparticles on commercially available filter paper for fast and efficient removal of antibiotic
Tingting Xi, Chaojian Li, Yaqian Yu, Weiqi Wei, Sha Wang, Tingting Xu, Huining Xiao, Hongqi Dai, Xuelian Zhou, Huiyang Bian
Abstract
Enhancing the dispersibility and recoverability of powdered catalysts is essential for developing efficient and cost-effective photocatalytic systems. Herein, β -FeOOH nanoparticles were in-situ deposited on commercially available filter paper (FP) to construct paper-based composite material ( β -FeOOH@FP). Results showed that the rod-like β -FeOOH nanoparticles were uniformly distributed in the FP matrix without destroying the crystalline structure of cellulose. The resulting β -FeOOH synthesized at 3 h presented the highest photoelectrochemical response and exhibited better suppression of electron–hole recombination, allowing more photogenerated electrons to participate in the reaction. The β -FeOOH@FP catalyst achieved a 94.1% photocatalytic degradation rate of tetracycline (TC) within 120 min compared to the pure β -FeOOH (42.2%) and FP (20.1%) under simulated visible light irradiation. Photocatalytic degradation kinetics also demonstrated that the rate constant of β -FeOOH@FP was 9.6 × 10 −3 min −1 , much higher than that of others. In addition, the resulting β -FeOOH@FP composite material exhibited excellent stability and reusability with a photocatalytic efficiency of over 90% after five cycles. These findings provide a simple and cost-effective strategy to improve the degradation performance of powdered semiconductor catalysts and pave a new way to develop cellulose-based nanocomposites with high photocatalytic efficiency.