Construction of MXene/Ti membrane electrode with Ti3C2TX via electrophoretic deposition for high-efficient electrochemical degradation of antibiotic wastewater

The introduction of antibiotics into the environment leads to serious environmental problems and public health concerns. Along these lines, in this work, a facile strategy to fabricate the MXene/Ti membrane was developed by loading 2D ultrathin Ti3C2Tx nanosheets on the porous Ti membrane through electrophoretic deposition, which was used as anode material for the degradation of the tetracycline hydrochloride (TCH) wastewater in the electrocatalytic membrane reactor (ECMR). From the acquired degradation results, it was demonstrated that the removal efficiency of TCH and total organic carbon (TOC) was nearly 100 % and 90.4 % with the obtained MXene/Ti anode in the ECMR, respectively, under a temperature value of 20 °C, a current density of 0.8 mA cm−2, a residence time of 10 min, an electrolyte Na2SO4 concentration of 15 g L−1, a TCH concentration of 50 mg L−1, and a pH of 7.0 reaction conditions. These values were much higher than that of pristine Ti membrane anode and other reported electrochemical treatment processes, such as electrocatalysis, photo-electrocatalysis process etc. The excellent stability of the MXene/Ti anode was also demonstrated by performing 15 cycles test. The superior removal efficiency of TCH and the mineralization ability of antibiotics could be ascribed to the formation of 2D nanocomposites of Ti3C2Tx and TiO2. Our work paves the way for the utilization of MXene/Ti membrane electrodes and ECMR for the efficient removal of antibiotics from wastewater.