Highly impressive activation of persulfate ions by novel ZnO/CuCo2O4 nanostructures for photocatalytic removal of tetracycline hydrochloride under visible light

In the present work, ZnO/CuCo2O4 nanocomposite was successfully synthesized through a hydrothermal process and utilized for persulfate (PS)-promoted photocatalytic mitigation of tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) and three dye pollutants under visible light. The characterization of materials was performed by various techniques. Among the binary photocatalysts, the ZnO/CuCo2O4 (20%) nanocomposite represented considerable photocatalytic ability to eliminate the selected contaminants. The degradation constant of TC on the ZnO/CuCo2O4 (20%)/PS system was nearly 29.9, 45.7, 23.5, and 18.4-folds as large as the PS, ZnO, ZnO/PS, and ZnO/CuCo2O4 (20%) systems, respectively. The enhanced photocatalytic ability of the ZnO/CuCo2O4 (20%)/PS system can be related to more visible-light absorption, efficacious electrons transfer resulting from the construction of p-n heterojunction among ZnO and CuCo2O4, and activation of PS to generate sulfate radicals. It is anticipated that this study could provide new visions for the preparation and utilization of efficacious heterogeneous photocatalysts for impressive activation of PS to be utilized for remediation of polluted water with antibiotics and dye contaminants.