An Efficient Photocatalyst Based on Black TiO2 Nanoparticles and Porous Carbon with High Surface Area: Degradation of Antibiotics and Organic Pollutants in Water

Graphical Rapid removal : A photocatalyst comprising black TiO 2 nanoparticles (BTNs) grown in situ on a porous carbon material (PC) can be used for the efficient photocatalytic degradation of antibiotics and pollutants. Under visible-light irradiation, the photogenerated electrons of BTNs react with O 2 to generate . O 2 − radical species and holes (h + ) which can decompose the adsorbed antibiotics. The PC allows a more efficient adsorption as well as rapid transport of charge carriers and provides more active sites. Porous carbon (PC) materials with high surface area can separate electron–hole pairs and adsorb organic pollutants more effectively. A series of nanocomposites were prepared by anchoring black TiO 2 nanoparticles (BTN) onto PC through a calcination process. Chemical and structural features of samples were examined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (P-XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) analyses. The resulting adsorption-photocatalysis synergistic effect led to a dramatically improved photocurrent for BTN@PCs, thus indicating the high photocatalytic performance toward water-soluble organic species. For instance, the degradation of tetracycline under visible light reached 90 %, which is higher than that for activated carbon doped onto BTN (57 %) without any additional agents. Moreover, the degradation of other antibiotics (such as oxytetracycline and ciprofloxacin) and methylene blue were also studied, thus showing that this system has the potential to be used for water treatment.