Doped graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) catalysts for efficient photodegradation of tetracycline antibiotics in aquatic environments

Tetracyclines (TCs) antibiotics are very common and often used in both human and veterinary medicines. More than 75% of TCs are excreted in an active condition and released into the environment, posing a risk to the ecosystem and human health. Residual antibiotics are in global water bodies, causing antibiotic resistance and genotoxicity in humans and aquatic organisms. The ever-increasing number of multi-resistant bacteria caused by the widespread use of antibiotics in the environment has sparked a renewed interest in developing more sustainable antibiotic degradation processes. In this regard, photodegradation technique provides a promising solution to resolve this growing issue, paving the way for complete antibiotic degradation with the generation of non-toxic by-products. As a fascinating activity towards visible light range shown by semiconductor, graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has a medium bandgap, non-toxicity, chemically stable complex, and thermally great strength. Recent studies have concentrated on the performance of g-C3N4 as a photocatalyst for treating wastewater. Pure g-C3N4 exhibits limited photocatalytic activity due to insufficient sunlight usage, small surface area, and a high rate of recombination of electron and hole ([Formula: see text] & [Formula: see text]) pairs created in photocatalytic activity. Doping of g-C3N4 is a very effective method for improving the activity as element doped g-C3N4 shows excellent bandgap and electronic structure. Doping significantly broadens the light-responsive range and reduces recombination of e- & h+ pairs. Under above context, this review provides a systematic and comprehensive outlook of designing doped g-C3N4 as well as efficiency for TCs degradation in aquatic environment.