Easily fabricated HARCP/HAp photocatalyst for efficient and fast removal of tetracycline under natural sunlight

Photocatalysis is an effective and environmentally-friendly technique for antibiotics degradation in wastewater. Herein, a novel rationally designed HexaAcetyl-Reductive Cercosporin/Hydroxyapatite (HARCP/HAp) composite was simply fabricated through a convenient bench-top fabrication method for the efficient, fast and complete removal of tetracycline (TC) within 10 min upon 32 W compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) irradiation. The photoactivity of the fabricated HARCP/HAp-2 (0.5719 min−1) to remove TC showed dramatic enhancement compared with HARCP (0.0098 min−1) or HAp (0.0374 min−1). More importantly, a broad range concentration (30–70 mg L−1) of 50 mL TC solutions, even a scalable 5 L solution at the real situation of 158 μg L−1 under natural sunlight, could be photoremoved efficiently by this new photocatalytic system. Meanwhile, it exhibited excellent stability and reusability for repeated usage. The photoremoval process mechanically involved superoxide radical anion (•O2−), hydroxyl radical (•OH) and hole (h+). Therefore, we provided a novel fabrication of the organic-containing photocatalyst composite involving the natural product-derived HARCP for the efficient removal of TC, avoiding the expensive and polluting heavy metals, harsh conditions to fabricate and high-power light sources.