Abstract
The development of composite photocatalysts with high charge transfer efficiency, great visible light absorption, and quick recovery has aroused the interest of many researchers. Herein, based on the hydrothermal assisted vacuum freeze drying method, CdS, Fe3O4, and N-TiO2 were, respectively, fixed in the inner, middle, and outer layers of nitrogen-doped graphene aerogel for preparation of the site-specific magnetic porous Z-scheme CdS/Fe3O4@N-doped graphene aerogel microtube/N-doped TiO2 (CdS/Fe3O4@NGAM/N-TiO2) photocatalyst. For the composite, Fe3O4@NGAM carrier with porous and tubular structure not only helps the recycle and reactants/productions mass transport in the photocatalytic process but also ensures the well-steered transfer of electrons and holes from CdS and N-TiO2 in the Z-type heterojunction system, greatly improving the separation of photogenerated carriers. Besides, Fe3O4 can also work as a Fenton catalyst to activate hydrogen peroxide which is generated in situ by CdS. Thus, the CdS/Fe3O4@NGAM/N-TiO2 composite presents excellent degradation efficiencies towards methyl orange ((MO) 98% removal rate within 50 min), bisphenol A ((BPA) 96% removal rate within 50 min), tetracycline hydrochloride ((TCH) 96% removal rate within 120 min) and strong stabilities after 6 cycles. The free radical removal experiments show that ·O2− and ·OH are the main active substances of catalysis, which further confirms the synergistic effect of photocatalysis and Fenton catalysis.
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Acknowledgements
Sincere thanks go to Qin Yang for help with the additional experiments and the subsequent writing work and to anonymous reviewers for helpful suggestions.
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This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 21607109), the Natural Science Foundation for Youth Project of Sichuan Province (Grant No. 2023NSFSC1121), the Sichuan Science and Technology Plan Project of International Cooperation, China (Grant No. 2020YFH0209), the National modern agricultural industry technology system Sichuan innovation team (SCCXTD-2020–19), and the Start-up Grants of Sichuan Agricultural University for Talent, China (Grant No. 03120313).
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YW, LZ, and XC: conceptualization and methodology. YC and JX: data curation and writing—original draft preparation. LZ and LL: visualization and investigation. YZ: supervision. XD and YJ: software and validation. JL: writing—reviewing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Wang, Y., Zhao, L., Cai, X. et al. Construction of site-specific magnetic Z-scheme CdS/Fe3O4@N-doped graphene aerogel microtube/N-doped TiO2 with porous structure: enhanced catalytic performance in photo-Fenton reaction. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 15091–15104 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-32190-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-32190-8