Hierarchical magnetic petal-like Fe3O4-ZnO@g-C3N4 for removal of sulfamethoxazole, suppression of photocorrosion, by-products identification and toxicity assessment

Herein, a petal-like photocatalyst, Fe3O4-ZnO@g-C3N4 (FZG) with different g-C3N4 to ZnO ratios was synthesized with hierarchical structure. The FZG1 photocatalyst, having the weight ratio of 1:1 for the initial urea and Fe3O4-ZnO (Fe-ZnO), presented the highest sulfamethoxazole (SMX) degradation rate of 0.0351 (min(-1)), which was 2.6 times higher than that of pristine ZnO. Besides the facile separation, the performance of photocatalyst was improved due to the function of iron oxide as an electron acceptor that reduced the electron/hole recombination rate. The coating of g-C3N4 on the Fe-ZnO surface not only acted as a protective layer for ZnO against photocorrosion, but it also enhanced the photocatalytic activity of the catalyst for SMX degradation through the heterojunction mechanism. By using the FZG1 photocatalyst, 95% SMX removal was obtained after 90 min reaction, while 47% COD and 30% TOC removal were achieved after 60 min treatment under a low energy-consuming UV lamp (10 W). Moreover, a substantial reduction in the solution toxicity was shown after the treatment, as compared with the SMX solution before treatment. The LC-HR-MS/MS analysis results showed that the concentration of most detected by-products produced after 90 min reaction by FZG1 was considerably lower than those obtained using other synthesized photocatalysts. By performing radical scavenging experiments, OH' radical was found to be the major reactive species. The FZG1 photocatalyst also displayed excellent reusability in five cycles and the leaching of zinc and iron ions was reduced by 54% and -100%, respectively, after coating Fe-ZnO with g-C3N4. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.