Visible-light-driven simultaneous decontamination of multi-antibiotics by facile synthesized BiOCl loaded food wastes biochar

Environmental dissemination caused by widespread use of antibiotics has been regarded as a possible hazard to aquatic ecosystem and human health. The increasing misgivings make it imperative to develop a novel catalyst with remarkable visible-light-driven activity to remove antibiotics, especially for their simultaneous decontamination. Herein, C/BiOCl composites were successfully prepared by decorating BiOCl nanosheets on food wastes biochar (C) by a simple hydrolysis strategy. Not only the binary system of tetracycline antibiotics, but also the ternary mixture could be simultaneously photodegraded over 25% C/BiOCl within 15 min irradiation. The improved photocatalytic activities could be ascribed to the introduction of biochar, endowing increased surface area, enhanced separation of photo-generated charge carriers, and better light absorption. The as-prepared 25% C/BiOCl also demonstrated satisfactory stability and positive removal effect in actual water samples. The present work provides new insights into the development of biochar-based photocatalysts for simultaneous degradation of multiple antibiotics.