Facile Synthesis to Porous TiO<sub>2</sub> Nanostructures at Low Temperature for Efficient Visible-Light Degradation of Tetracycline
Peng Lian,
Aimiao Qin,
Zhisen Liu,
Hao Ma,
Lei Liao,
Kaiyou Zhang,
Ning Li
Affiliations
Peng Lian
Key Laboratory of New Processing Technology for Nonferrous Metals & Materials, Ministry of Education, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control Theory and Technology, College of Materials Science & Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China
Aimiao Qin
Key Laboratory of New Processing Technology for Nonferrous Metals & Materials, Ministry of Education, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control Theory and Technology, College of Materials Science & Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China
Zhisen Liu
College of Chemistry, Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology, Maoming 525000, China
Hao Ma
College of Chemistry, Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology, Maoming 525000, China
Lei Liao
Key Laboratory of New Processing Technology for Nonferrous Metals & Materials, Ministry of Education, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control Theory and Technology, College of Materials Science & Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China
Kaiyou Zhang
Key Laboratory of New Processing Technology for Nonferrous Metals & Materials, Ministry of Education, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Environmental Pollution Control Theory and Technology, College of Materials Science & Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China
Ning Li
College of Chemistry, Guangdong University of Petrochemical Technology, Maoming 525000, China
In this study, nanoporous TiO2 with hierarchical micro/nanostructures was synthesized on a large scale by a facile one-step solvothermal method at a low temperature. A series of characterizations was performed and carried out on the as-prepared photocatalysts, which were applied to the degradation of the antibiotic tetracycline (TC). The results demonstrated that nanoporous TiO2 obtained at a solvothermal temperature of 100 °C had a spherical morphology with high crystallinity and a relatively large specific surface area, composed of a large number of nanospheres. The nanoporous TiO2 with hierarchical micro/nanostructures exhibited excellent photocatalytic degradation activity for TC under simulated sunlight. The degradation rate was close to 100% after 30 min of UV light irradiation, and reached 79% only after 60 min of visible light irradiation, which was much better than the photodegradation performance of commercial TiO2 (only 29%). Moreover, the possible intermediates formed during the photocatalytic degradation of TC were explored by the density functional theory calculations and HPLC-MS spectra. Furthermore, two possible degradation routes were proposed, which provided experimental and theoretical support for the photocatalytic degradation of TC. In this study, we provide a new approach for the hierarchical micro/nanostructure of nanoporous TiO2, which can be applied in industrial manufacturing fields.
