Helena Pérez del Pulgar, Josefa Ortiz-Bustos, Santiago Gómez-Ruiz, Isabel del Hierro and Yolanda Pérez
{"title":"Oxygen vacancy-engineered Bi2O2CO3 nanosheets for enhanced photodegradation of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in water†","authors":"Helena Pérez del Pulgar, Josefa Ortiz-Bustos, Santiago Gómez-Ruiz, Isabel del Hierro and Yolanda Pérez","doi":"10.1039/D5EW00367A","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p >Defect engineering has emerged as a versatile approach for tailoring the properties of materials to meet specific functional applications and improve their properties. In the context of environmental remediation, the introduction of surface oxygen vacancies in semiconductor materials has demonstrated to be a highly effective strategy to enhance molecular adsorption and contaminants' degradation. Herein, we reported the synthesis of Bi<small><sub>2</sub></small>O<small><sub>2</sub></small>CO<small><sub>3</sub></small> nanosheets with surface oxygen vacancies (OVs) <em>via</em> the controlled addition of an accessible, non-toxic and versatile ionic liquid, choline hydroxide. The presence of OVs was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electrochemical techniques, including cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Upon optimizing the concentration of choline hydroxide, it was found that the addition of 10% of choline hydroxide yielded a material, Chol10%-Bi<small><sub>2</sub></small>O<small><sub>2</sub></small>CO<small><sub>3</sub></small>, with significantly enhanced adsorptive and photocatalytic performance. This material efficiently removed not only antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin (97.5% in 20 min) and sulfamethoxazole (98.5% in 60 min), but also a UV filter compound, benzophenone-4 (92.4% in 180 min), which are representative of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) of high environmental concern. Mechanistic studies into reactive oxygen species involved in the photocatalytic process, together with a thorough study of the energy band structure, revealed that Chol10%-Bi<small><sub>2</sub></small>O<small><sub>2</sub></small>CO<small><sub>3</sub></small> generates both hydroxyl (OH·) and superoxide (·O<small><sub>2</sub></small><small><sup>−</sup></small>) radicals, which are essential for the efficient degradation of the recalcitrant UV filter compound, showing the potential of oxygen vacancy-engineered Bi<small><sub>2</sub></small>O<small><sub>2</sub></small>CO<small><sub>3</sub></small> nanosheets as promising platforms for water purification and environmental remediation applications.</p>","PeriodicalId":75,"journal":{"name":"Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology","volume":" 8","pages":" 1951-1965"},"PeriodicalIF":3.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-06-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlepdf/2025/ew/d5ew00367a?page=search","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology","FirstCategoryId":"93","ListUrlMain":"https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2025/ew/d5ew00367a","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"环境科学与生态学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"ENGINEERING, ENVIRONMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Defect engineering has emerged as a versatile approach for tailoring the properties of materials to meet specific functional applications and improve their properties. In the context of environmental remediation, the introduction of surface oxygen vacancies in semiconductor materials has demonstrated to be a highly effective strategy to enhance molecular adsorption and contaminants' degradation. Herein, we reported the synthesis of Bi2O2CO3 nanosheets with surface oxygen vacancies (OVs) via the controlled addition of an accessible, non-toxic and versatile ionic liquid, choline hydroxide. The presence of OVs was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and electrochemical techniques, including cyclic voltammetry (CV) and differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). Upon optimizing the concentration of choline hydroxide, it was found that the addition of 10% of choline hydroxide yielded a material, Chol10%-Bi2O2CO3, with significantly enhanced adsorptive and photocatalytic performance. This material efficiently removed not only antibiotics such as ciprofloxacin (97.5% in 20 min) and sulfamethoxazole (98.5% in 60 min), but also a UV filter compound, benzophenone-4 (92.4% in 180 min), which are representative of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) of high environmental concern. Mechanistic studies into reactive oxygen species involved in the photocatalytic process, together with a thorough study of the energy band structure, revealed that Chol10%-Bi2O2CO3 generates both hydroxyl (OH·) and superoxide (·O2−) radicals, which are essential for the efficient degradation of the recalcitrant UV filter compound, showing the potential of oxygen vacancy-engineered Bi2O2CO3 nanosheets as promising platforms for water purification and environmental remediation applications.
期刊介绍:
Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology seeks to showcase high quality research about fundamental science, innovative technologies, and management practices that promote sustainable water.