N-doped BC/Ferrite collaborative degradation of antibiotics: Synthesis and mechanism research

Abstract

The emergence of antibiotics, a new type of toxic organic pollutant, poses a pollution threat to water resources closely related to our health and living environment. An increasing number of scholars are investigating the removal of antibiotics from aquatic systems, which represent emerging contaminants of concern due to their widespread detection and persistence in water bodies. They have proposed an effective method for the synergistic treatment of antibiotics in water through adsorption and photocatalytic degradation. Among these materials, biochar demonstrates remarkable adsorption capacity during pollutant adsorption, attributable to its extensive specific surface area and profusion of surface functional groups. Ferrite semiconductors have been widely utilized for photocatalysts owing to their unique electronic properties and magnetic recoverability, enabling efficient degradation of organic pollutants under light irradiation. The synergistic interaction between biochar and ferrite substantially improves adsorption capacity and photocatalytic efficiency, offering a dual-functional mechanism for antibiotic pollutant remediation. Consequently, many scholars are dedicating themselves to the study of removing antibiotic pollutants in water via nitrogen-doped biochar and ferrite composites. This review examines N-doped biochar and ferrite composites from four perspectives: material preparation, material synthesis, principles of adsorption and photocatalysis, and future research directions. The latest research findings are summarized to advance the development of nitrogen-doped biochar and ferrite composites as effective adsorbents and photocatalysis for removing antibiotics from water.