Rotary-angle 3D printing multilayer membrane dead-end filtration for rapid and highly efficient water treatment

Polluted water caused by antibiotics leads to serious risks to human health and ecosystem. Rapidly and efficiently treating antibiotic pollutions to make it safe is urgently needed for environmental protection and public health. Herein, we report that ZIF-67 derived nano-cube Co3O4 as model catalysts were immobilized in the rotary-angle three-dimensional (3D) printed multilayer reduced graphene oxide/carbon nanotubes (Co3O4/R-rGO/CNTs) membrane for the highly efficient degradation of antibiotic pollutants through sulfate radical-based advanced oxidation process (SR-AOP). The macropores in the designed Co3O4/R-rGO/CNTs membrane are distributed in a rotationally staggered arrangement, which increases the opportunity for contaminant contact with the catalyst. The micro-cellular structures formed by the freeze-casting treatment in Co3O4/R-rGO/CNTs membrane provide abundant anchor sites for catalysts as-well-as plentiful active sites for catalytic reactions. The degradation efficiency of the designed membrane toward aureomycin hydrochloride (CTC) reached 99.3% at a flux rate of 636.9 L m−2 h−1, which is increased by 100% comparing with the traditional 3D printing membrane with vertical macroporous arrays. This strategy put forward a new idea for the efficient degradation of antibiotic pollutants and has great application prospects in the field of environmental remediation.