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·g−1and 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 MI-FCT 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.