The molecular imprinting strategy significantly improved the selective degradation performance of tetracycline hydrochloride by SiO2@N-TiO2

Abstract As antibiotic pollution intensifies, developing high-performance molecular imprinting polymers combined with photocatalysis is essential for the efficient and stable degradation of specific antibiotics in water. A core-shell SiO2@N-TiO2 molecular imprinting polymer (SiO2@N-TiO2@MIPs) was developed by using a simple, eco-friendly sol-gel method. The material shows high selectivity and stable photocatalytic degradation performance for tetracycline hydrochloride, achieving a degradation efficiency of 95.64% within 60 min under illumination. This provides an effective method for removing tetracycline from water.