Facile fabrication of a cellulose-based photocatalytic membrane decorated with core-shell heterojunction microspheres for efficient and continuous wastewater remediation

Advanced oxidation processes have extensive applications in the degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater. However, conventional powder photochemical catalysts have limited utility due to their susceptibility to agglomeration, electron-hole recombination, and challenges in recycling. In this work, we herein propose an integration tactic to facilely fabricate a cellulose-based photocatalytic electrospun membrane (ZPP/CA-ENM) via synchronous electrospinning of acetate cellulose (CA) and electrospray of core-shell PMMA@PDA@ZIF-67 (ZPP) photocatalysts. This hybrid membrane is capable of synergistic PMS activation and photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline (TC) and methylene blue (MB). For the ZPP catalysts, the PDA@ZIF-67 heterojunctions greatly promote the adsorption of visible light and the separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, leading to excellent catalytic efficiency. The synchronous electrospinning and electrospray not only lead to the formation of porous and spiderweb-like membrane structure, but also facilitates the dispersion and recycling of these catalysts. Results reveal that under the presence of light irradiation and PMS, various oxidative species, including 1O2, SO4−, OH and O2− are generated, resulting in rapid degradations of TC (93.31 % within 30 min) and MB (99.90 % within 15 min), which also exhibits a rapid degradation and high efficiency in a cascade continuous lab setup. This work provides a new strategy for exploring novel and efficient material for wastewater purification.