Enhanced hydrophilicity and promoted charge transfer in covalent triazine frameworks/sepiolite complexed via hydrogen bonding for visible-light driven degradation of antibiotics

Featuring strong visible-light absorption, tunable band gaps, structural diversity, and fully conjugated nitrogen-rich structures, covalent triazine frameworks (CTFs) are emerging as a class of promising semiconductor photocatalysts. However, limited by their poor hydrophilicity and fast charge carrier recombination, their photocatalytic efficiency in water is far lower than expected. Herein, a hybrid composite of sepiolite (SEP) and CTF with a tunable density was synthesized via an in situ CF3SO3H-promoted strategy. The resultant [email protected] 2:1 composite exhibited excellent photocatalytic efficiency in the degradation of antibiotics under visible light, which can be attributed to its improved charge transfer and enhanced hydrophilicity. The interaction between sepiolite and Th-CTF via hydrogen bonding results in the transformation of photogenerated electron from Th-CTF to antibiotics. The combination of sepiolite with CTFs can improve photocatalytic performance, which is instructive to broaden the application of CTFs as semiconductors for efficient solar energy conversion in a water medium.