Development of TiO2/Hemin@MAF-7 composites for Photo-Fenton-like degradation of tetracycline antibiotics and cyanobacteria

The pollution of water environment resulted from antibiotic abuse and harmful cyanobacteria blooms poses a serious threat to the ecological environment and human health, thus development of effective approaches to degrade and remove these pollutants is crucial to guarantee environmental security. In this work, TiO 2 /Hemin@MAF-7 composites with photo-Fenton-like cascade catalytic degradation activity have been successfully prepared by a self-assembly method. The photocatalysts exhibit high degradation efficiency towards tetracycline antibiotics in water solution under UV light irradiation. Furthermore, the TiO 2 /Hemin@MAF-7 composites have the potential ability to degrade other organic pollutants under the irradiation of visible light. A possible photocatalytic degradation mechanism of the photocatalyst is proposed, which follows a Z-scheme heterojunction type. The introduction of the hemin component into the heterojunction composites significantly promotes the separation of the photo-generated charges on the catalyst, which drives the photo-Fenton-like cascade catalytic cycle degradation reaction. Additionally, the photocatalyst can effectively inhibit the growth of the Microcystis aeruginosa in water environment by damaging the structure of algal cells. This work provides a practical solution for the degradation of antibiotic residues and control of harmful cyanobacteria blooms in wastewaters, and offers a promising strategy for efficiently removing multiple emerging contaminants in water environments.