Synergistic degradation and ecotoxicology assessment of tetracycline by II-scheme Cu3BiS3/Bi2Fe4O9 photocatalytic activation of peroxymonosulfate

Abstract

The increasing reliance on antibiotics in recent years has led to the growing overuse of antibiotics, and tetracycline (TC) is a widely used antibiotic. In this study, a hierarchical configuration system was constructed by combining $C{u}_{3}Bi{S}_3$ and $B{i}_{2}F{e}_4{O}_9$ for the study of photocatalytic activation of persulfate degradation of TC, and its photocatalytic performance on TC was fully evaluated. Results found that $B{i}_{2}F{e}_4{O}_9$ and $C{u}_{3}Bi{S}_3$ formed a type-II heterojunction, which inhibited the complexation of photogenerated carriers and synergized with peroxymonosulfate (PMS) to promote the generation of reactive radicals and thus enhance the photocatalytic effect. Also, in the photocatalytic activation of persulfate system$C{u}_{3}Bi{S}_3$/$B{i}_{2}F{e}_4{O}_9$/PMS/ visible (Vis), the best catalytic performance of 12.5 %$C{u}_{3}Bi{S}_3$/$B{i}_{2}F{e}_4{O}_9$ was achieved when the catalyst injection was 0.3 g/L, the concentration of TC was 20 mg/L, the concentration of PMS was 1 mmol/L, and the pH=6.5, which degraded 97.9 % of TC within 60 min. The 12.5 % $C{u}_{3}Bi{S}_3$/$B{i}_{2}F{e}_4{O}_9$/PMS/ Vis system has a contribution of active substances of $S{O}_4^{•-}$>$O_2^{•-}$>$h^{+}$>${{}^{1}O}_2$>$•OH$. Further, the degradation mechanism and pathways of TC by the $C{u}_{3}Bi{S}_3$/$B{i}_{2}F{e}_4{O}_9$/PMS/Vis system was proposed, and it was proved that the system could realize the safe conversion of TC according to the toxicity estimation using software Toxicity Estimation Software Tool (TEST).