Degradation of tetracycline by a novel MIL-101(Fe)/TiO2 composite with persulfate

An effective catalyst of MIL-101(Fe)/TiO 2 composite was synthesized by solvothermal method. The resultant MIL-101(Fe)/TiO 2 was used for advanced oxidation degradation of tetracycline (TC) for the first time. The results indicated that the MIL-101(Fe)/TiO 2 showed higher TC degradation efficiency than pure MIL-101(Fe) or TiO 2 with the persulfate. Using 1 g L −1 MIL-101(Fe)/TiO 2 and persulfate at pH 7, 90.15% degradation rate was achieved under xenon lamp irradiation in 5 min for 20 mg L −1 TC. TiO 2 introduced in the composite played an important role in the degradation process, in which TiO 2 had a synergetic effect with Fe 3+ to generate Fe 2+ , Ti 3+ and radicals. Fe 2+ reacted with persulfate to produce Fe 3+ and a number of · OH to degrade TC. This reaction process was so fast that MIL-101(Fe)/TiO 2 with persulfate could degrade TC fairly rapidly. A novel TiO 2 -based metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) composite was more efficient for degrading pharmaceutical wastewater.