Energy-saving piezoelectric pipe functionalized by C3N5/polyvinylidene fluoride composites for enhanced degradation of ciprofloxacin

Piezocatalytic technology has been widely used for pollutant degradation, but usually suffers from high energy consumption and secondary pollution. To address these shortcomings, we constructed a green energy-saving piezoelectric pipe functionalized by C3N5/polyvinylidene fluoride composites for pollutant degradation. The synergistic effect of C3N5 and polyvinylidene fluoride profoundly improved the piezoelectric attributes of the composites and accelerated the carrier separation efficiency within materials. Under flowing water, the piping device showcased an exceptional ciprofloxacin removal rate of 93 % in 40 min and maintained excellent degradation performance after multiple cycles. Notably, the energy consumption in the whole process was only 82.64 kWh m−3 order-1. Three main possible degradation pathways of ciprofloxacin were suggested based on LC-MS results and frontier orbit theory calculations. Toxicity analysis further confirmed the reduction of ciprofloxacin ecotoxicity after degradation. The pipe system also displayed good universality and recyclability, providing new insights for environmental remediation.