Degradation of tetracycline/oxytetracycline by electrospun aligned polyacrylonitrile-based carbon nanofibers as anodic electrocatalysis microfiltration membrane

The treatment of antibiotic wastewater is a hot research topic now. To achieve a fast and efficient degradation effect, aligned polyacrylonitrile-based carbon nanofibrous (ACFs) membrane as anodic electrocatalysis microfiltration membrane was fabricated by high-speed electrospinning technology in this work. The morphology, structure, electrochemical performance and mechanical properties of ACFs membrane as anode filter were characterized. The high degrees of nanofiber alignment and carbonization are obtained at the rotating speed of 1500 r/min and the temperature of 900 ℃, respectively, which provides the ACFs membrane with good electrical conductivity and mechanical properties. The highest removal rate (nearly 80%) of tetracycline/oxytetracycline (TC/OTC) in mixture solution was obtained with 4 layers of ACFs membranes under the potential of 2.5 V at the initial concentration of 40 mg/L within the reaction time of 120 min. A decrease of removal rate by only 5% after 5 cycles of repeated experiments indicated good electrocatalytic activity and cycling stability of ACFs membrane. These results indicated that more than one antibiotic could be treated rapidly by ACFs membranes with a high removal rate in a short reaction time, and has great application prospects in the treatment of refractory antibiotic wastewater.