Controllable one-step production of 2D MgAl-LDH for photocatalytic removal of tetracycline

In this work, 2D MgAl-layered double hydroxide (LDH) nanosheets were prepared by a one-step hydrothermal method with adding H 2 O 2 . The as-prepared products were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and N 2 adsorption–desorption techniques. Particularly, with 30%wt H 2 O 2 , MA-4 exhibits the optimal optical properties along with the largest surface area of 63.21 m 3 /g among the fabricated samples. In addition, the photocatalytic activities of MgAl-LDH nanosheets were also tightly related to the concentration of H 2 O 2 that 99.34% tetracycline was degraded by 2D MgAl-LDH(MA-4) within 3 h. A possible photocatalytic mechanism was proposed based on the analysis of energy structure and the result of free radical scavenging experiments. Furthermore, the degradation efficiency of MA-4 still reached 85% in five successive cycles, which showed remarkable reusability and stability. In this study, the 2D MgAl-LDH nanosheets were expected as a promising catalyst for practical water purification and provide new ideas in the field of two-dimensional photocatalysis.