Molecularly imprinted Fe₃O₄/g-C₃N₄/TiO₂ catalyst for selective photodegradation of chlorotetracycline

The low-dose antibiotics in wastewater and their undesirable removal efficiency have gained worldwide attention, thus calling for effective technologies for selective degradation antibiotics from wastewater. In this work, a novel molecularly imprinted Fe3O4/g-C3N4/TiO2 catalyst (i.e. MI-FCT), Fe3O4/g-C3N4/TiO2 (FCT) used as the substrate catalyst and chlorotetracycline (CTC) used as the template, was fabricated using hydrothermal and molecular imprinting techniques. The MI-FCT catalyst showed the performance of specific recognition and efficient catalysis for CTC with the adsorption amount of equilibrium about Qe, 24.54 mg & sdot;g(-1)and 91.87% removal, implying this catalyst was developed to specifically eliminate CTC and promoting free radicals production. Moreover, the imprinting and degradation mechanisms were investigated. The imprinted layer in MIFCT can provide recognition sties only and do not influence the photocatalytic process. This work offers a novel technique for the simultaneously enhanced selectivity and efficient degradation of refractory antibiotics with low-dose and high toxicity from wastewater.