Unlocking the photo-Fenton potential of novel magnetically separable sulfur doped g-C3N4/CoFe2O4 Z-scheme heterojunction systems towards tetracycline removal

The increasing presence of antibiotics in water sources has become a major environmental concern. In this regard, designing of new photocatalysts possessing high visible light response and pertinent redox potentials are prerequisites. Herein, magnetically recoverable sulfur doped g-C3N4 (SCN)@CoFe2O4 (SCNCoFe) Z-scheme heterostructures were successfully fabricated by employing simple calcination route in which CoFe2O4 nanoparticles were allowed to grow over SCN nanosheets. The prepared heterostructures displayed highly efficient photocatalytic removal of tetracyclines i.e., tetracycline (TC) and minocycline (MC), SCNCoFe-20 showed the highest degradation efficiency, with around 94% for both TC and MC within 120 s of visible light irradiation. The mineralization efficacy analysis using total organic carbon removal % validated the practicality of proposed method towards removal of TC and MC from aquatic environment. Photoluminescence and radical quenching studies revealed the enhancement in H2O2 assisted photocatalytic degradation of TC and MC via Z-scheme charge transport, which comprehends the substantial synergy effect between photocatalysis and Fenton mechanism. Overall, this work provides a new insight into development of Z-scheme based heterostructures for antibiotics elimination from wastewater.