Catalytic degradation of tetracycline antibiotics by copper-based containing organic ligands

Abstract

Aiming to address the increasingly serious issue of tetracycline pollution, a photocatalyst was synthesized using the hydrothermal method with glutamic acid and isonicotinic acid as organic ligands, along with copper nitrate. The effectiveness of this photocatalyst in treating antibiotic wastewater under visible light was studied. The prepared photocatalysts were characterized using SEM, XRD, BET, XPS, UV and ESR. The results revealed the introduction of isonicotinic acid led to a transformation of the catalyst from a two-dimensional structure to a three-dimensional structure, thereby increasing the active sites for degradation of tetracycline (TC) in wastewater. Through degradation experiments conducted under visible light, the catalyst demonstrated a 92.28 % degradation of TC at a concentration of 40 mg/L and a catalyst concentration of 0.5 g/L. It exhibited a high degradation rate under neutral conditions and displayed strong performance in degrading municipal sewage and river sewage.