Fabrication of Fe3O4/CuO@C composite from MOF-based materials as an efficient and magnetically separable photocatalyst for degradation of ciprofloxacin antibiotic

Fabrication of Fe3O4/CuO@C composite from MOF-based materials as

an efficient and magnetically separable photocatalyst for degradation

of ciprofloxacin antibiotic

Van Thuan Le a, b

, Vy Anh Tran c

, Dai Lam Tran d

, Thi Lan Huong Nguyen e

,

Van-Dat Doan f, *

a Center for Advanced Chemistry, Institute of Research and Development, Duy Tan University, 03 Quang Trung, Da Nang, 550000, Viet Nam

b The Faculty of Environmental and Chemical Engineering, Duy Tan University, 03 Quang Trung, Da Nang, 550000, Viet Nam

c NTT Hi-Tech Institute, Nguyen Tat Thanh University, 298-300A Nguyen Tat Thanh, Ho Chi Minh, Viet Nam

d Institute for Tropical Technology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, 18 Hoang Quoc Viet, Hanoi, Viet Nam

e Institute of Biotechnology and Food Technology, Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh, 700000, Viet Nam

f Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Industrial University of Ho Chi Minh City, 12 Nguyen Van Bao, Ho Chi Minh, 700000, Viet Nam

highlights graphical abstract

A novel Fe3O4/CuO@C composite was

prepared via calcination of Fe-CuBDC

MOFs.

The catalyst showed superior degra￾dation of CIP compared with

Fe3O4@C and CuO@C.

Synergistic effects are the main factor

for excellent photocatalytic activity.

The photocatalytic reaction is domi￾nated by

O2

and

OH radicals.

Fe3O4/CuO@C can be easily recovered

and reused many times for CIP

degradation.

article info

Article history:

Received 4 November 2020

Received in revised form

14 December 2020

Accepted 21 December 2020

Available online 26 December 2020

Handling Editor: Derek Muir

Keywords:

Ciprofloxacin

Photocatalytic degradation

Fe3O4/CuO@C

Metaleorganic frameworks

Recyclable

abstract

In this work, a novel ternary Fe3O4/CuO@C composite was fabricated using iron-doped copper 1,4-

benzenedicarboxylate metal-organic frameworks as a self-sacrificing template. The morphological,

structural, and optical properties of the prepared composite were determined by various techniques, and

its photocatalytic behavior was investigated for degradation of ciprofloxacin under visible light irradi￾ation. The Fe3O4/CuO@C material presented a porous structure with a rough surface of about 4e20 mm,

and was composed of the Fe3O4/CuO nanocomposite uniformly distributed on a carbon support. The

band gap energy of the obtained composite was found to be 2.0 eV, which was nearly two times lower

than that of Fe3O4@C and CuO@C. As a result, Fe3O4/CuO@C exhibited high photocatalytic activity,

achieving a degradation efficiency of 98.5% after 120 min irradiation at the optimum conditions (a

catalyst dosage of 0.5 g L1

, pH of 7, CIP concentration of 15 mg L1

). The mechanism of ciprofloxacin

degradation by Fe3O4/CuO@C was elucidated with the main contribution of

O2

and

OH reactive radicals.

The new composite catalyst could easily be recovered from the treated solution using an external

magnetic field due to its superparamagnetic nature. Fe3O4/CuO@C also showed good reusability and

* Corresponding author. Faculty of Chemical Engineering, Industrial University of

Ho Chi Minh City, Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.

E-mail address: [email protected] (V.-D. Doan).

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Chemosphere

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/chemosphere

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.129417

0045-6535/© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chemosphere 270 (2021) 129417