Recently, Dr. Xin YU, Prof. Quanhui GUO and Junwei ZHAO in Henan Engineering Research Center of Resource & Energy Recovery from Waste, and College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering and Henan Key Laboratory of Polyoxometalate Chemistry, Institute of Molecular and Crystal Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Henan University, published a work on visible light photocatalysis of modified ultrawide semiconductor that was entitled “Ultrathin carbon-coated Zr3+-ZrO2 nanostructures for efficient visible light photocatalytic antibiotic elimination” in Chemical Engineering Journal.

Antibiotics are a type of refractory organics for the treatment of various bacterial infections. With the extensive usage, discharge, and enrichment of antibiotics in raw water, antibiotics bring great threatens to the microorganisms and the security of drinking water. In recent years, the innocuous treatment of antibiotics in raw water has been attracting extensive attentions than before and more and more research works are being carried out. In this paper, ultrathin carbon-coated Zr3+-ZrO2 nanostructure is fabricated for enhanced visible light absorption and highly efficient visible light photocatalytic antibiotics degradation as well as making full use of the advantages of electronic structures of the ultrawide bandgap semiconductors. In addition, this work also develops an effective strategy for preparation of other highly crystalline, highly dispersed, self-doped semiconductor materials.

Figure 1 Proposed visible light photocatalytic mechanism of carbon-coated Zr3+-ZrO2 composites for tetracycline degradation

This work was financially supported by Project funded by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, Postdoctoral Science Foundation of Henan province, the Scientific and Technological Project of Henan Province, and Program for Innovation Teams in Science and Technology in Universities of Henan Province.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2021.128621