Nitrogen-doped carbon dots (NCDs)-decorated hematite@MIL-101(Cr) photocatalyst for the removal of carbamazepine

A series of NCDs-decorated hematite@MIL-101(Cr) (marked as HMC) hybrids were innovatively and successfully developed for the highly efficient removal of carbamazepine in this study, which were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, N 2 adsorption–desorption, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, etc. And, the successful preparation of the hybrid was directly proved by XRD, FT-IR, SEM, TEM and XPS. N 2 adsorption–desorption result revealed good textural properties of the hybrid. The evaluation results indicated that the as-prepared hybrids possessed markedly promoted removal performances for CBZ. Compared with other hybrids, 0.3HMC2 with introducing FeCl 3 ·6H 2 O (0.3 g) and NCDs (2 mL) presented an optimum adsorption–photocatalysis coupling effects. The photodegradation efficiency over the hybrid was able to reach 100% within 60 min under visible-light irradiation. The excellent performances should be ascribed to good textural properties, π – π interaction formation, fast electron separation nature of NCDs and internal Z-scheme construction between hematite and MIL-101(Cr) phases. Meanwhile, the hybrid 0.3HMC2 showed good stability and reusability for photocatalytic degradation of CBZ. Furthermore, a possible mechanism for the removal of CBZ was also proposed to illustrate the photodegradation process. It is thus clear that the hybrid HMC is a promising catalyst for the removal of CBZ in wastewater.