Synergistic effects of layered Ti3C2TX MXene/MIL-101(Cr) heterostructure as a sonocatalyst for efficient degradation of sulfadiazine and acetaminophen in water

In this work, different mass loadings of MXene-coupled MIL-101(Cr) (MXe/MIL-101(Cr)) nanocomposites were generated through a hydrothermal process in order to investigate the potential of this nanocomposite as a novel sonocatalyst for the elimination of sulfadiazine (SD) and acetaminophen (AAP) in aqueous media. The sonocatalytic activity of different MXe/MIL-101(Cr) compositions and surface functionalities was investigated. In addition, the sonocatalytic activities at various pH values, temperatures, pollutant concentrations, catalyst dosages, initial H2O2 concentrations, and organic matter contents were investigated. The experiments on the sonocatalytic elimination of SD and AAP revealed that MXe/MIL-101(Cr) exhibited a catalytic efficiency of ∼98% in 80 min when the MXene loading was 30wt.% in the nanocomposite. Under optimized reaction conditions, the degradation efficiency of MXe/MIL-101(Cr) reached 91.5% for SD and 90.6% for AAP in 60 min; these values were 1.2 and 1.8 times greater than those of MXene and MIL-101(Cr), respectively. The high surface area of the MXe/MIL-101(Cr) nanocomposite increased from 4.68 m2/g to 294.21 m2/g, and the band gap of the tagged MIL-101(Cr) on the MXene surface was minimized. The superior sonocatalytic activity of MXe/MIL-101(Cr) was attributed to the effective contact interface, the effective separation rate of e- − h+ pairs through the type II heterostructure interface, and the favorable high free •OH radical production rates that promoted the degradation of SD and AAP. The solid heterointerface between MIL-101(Cr) and MXene was confirmed through Raman and FTIR analysis and was found to promote accessible •OH radical production under sonication, thus maximizing the catalytic activity of nanocomposites. The present results present an effective strategy for the design of a highly efficient, low-cost, reliable sonocatalyst that can eradicate pharmaceutical pollutants in our environment.