Preparation of porous CuO nanosheet-liked structure (CuO-NS) using C3N4 template with enhanced visible-light photoactivity in degradation of chlortetracycline

After applying for many years, antibiotics, such as chlortetracycline (CTC), have been widely detected in aquatic environment. The persistence and toxicity effect of them ungently calling for better solution. In this study, CuO nanosheet-liked structure has been successfully synthesized through a C 3 N 4 templating method with the presence of benzyl alcohol and sodium citrate by assembling small CuO nanoparticles onto the surface of C 3 N 4 nanosheet . Because of the C 3 N 4 -liked structure, narrowing band gap, enhanced visible light absorption and decreased recombination rate of photogenerated electron-hole pairs, the as-prepared CuO nanosheet-liked structure exhibits an enhanced visible-light photocatalytic activity in the degradation of CTC. Furthermore, Pt nanoparticles with a dimension around 10   nm have been loaded onto the surface of CuO nanosheet-liked structure to enhance the visible-light photoactivity of the photocatalyst. For the first time, the CuO-based photocatalyst can be applied in the photocatalytic degradation of CTC and displays an improved performance while comparing to TiO 2 -based photocatalysts. In particular, nearly 50% concentration of CTC in the solution can be degraded with the presence of Pt/CuO-NS-2 in 120   min. With the synergy effect between H 2 O 2 and Pt/CuO-NS-2, the degradation efficiency and ability of CTC has been further improved. Around 80% of CTC in the solution was degraded in 60   min.