MoS2 nanosheets wrapped magnetic foamed recycled glass (NMG) for efficient photo-Fenton degradation of tetracycline: Sustainable mindset of “treating waste with waste”

Every year, tens of millions of tons of waste glass are buried on-site, causing serious resource waste and challenging environmental problems. Therefore, dealing with the problem of waste glass is a technical challenge with important economic significance. We used waste glass as a precursor to obtain foam recycled glass and then used a simple impregnation method to obtain magnetic foamed recycled glass (MG) and MoS₂ nanosheets wrapped magnetic foamed recycled glass (NMG). Subsequently, we established an excellent NMG/H₂O₂ system for the efficient degradation of tetracycline (TC) under low-power light sources. The NMG/H₂O₂ system has a 92.2% removal rate of TC, accompanied by the apparent reaction kinetic constant is 0.01865 min⁻¹. Meanwhile, the degradation mechanism of ·OH and ¹O₂ as the main active species was determined. Finally, the theoretical reaction sites of TC in the NMG/H₂O₂ system were obtained through density functional theory (DFT) calculation. The theoretical reaction sites were consistent with the reaction sites in the possible degradation pathways we obtained through the degradation fragment. In our work, we approach environmental issues with a “treating waste with waste” mindset, which combines economic and environmental considerations and may become the mainstream mindset in future environmental treatment.