Application of MIL-53(Fe)/urchin-like g-C3N4 nanocomposite for efficient degradation of cefixime

Herein, for the first time, the fabrication and photocatalytic efficiency of MIL-53(Fe)/urchin-like g-C3N4 composites were accomplished. The as-fabricated MIL-53(Fe)/urchin-like g-C3N4 composites were characterized by XRD, FESEM, EDX, BET, UV–visible DRS, PL, and photo-electrochemical techniques. Cefixime was selected as a model of pharmaceutical pollutant to survey the photocatalytic activity of these materials under simulated solar-light irradiation. Results revealed that the co-existence of MIL-53(Fe)/urchin-like g-C3N4 and H2O2 as an oxidizing agent led to a substantial improvement in the removal efficiency of cefixime. The respective HPLC and TOC tests demonstrated that the photodegradation rate and TOC removal efficiency of cefixime (15 mg/L) could reach 94% and 81.88% after 120 min. Additionally, OH and O2− species played the major role in the photodegradation of cefixime. More importantly, the research provided some new insights for the fabrication of the novel and promising photocatalysts used for the photodegradation of organic contaminants from aqueous environments.