Adsorption and catalytic degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride by HCNTs /MnFe2O4

Developing efficient, stable and selective materials is essential for removing antibiotics from aquatic systems. In this study, one composite is prepared via loading of magnetic MnFe2O4 onto hydroxylated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (HCNTs) through co-precipitation, named as HCNTs/MnFe2O4. The characterization of materials was performed using various methods, such as Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM), Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR), etc. There are larger surface and good magnetic property, which are useful to bind adsorbate and easy separation from mixtures. The as-synthesized composite exhibited excellent adsorption capacity and ability to activate potassium persulfate (KPS) for the efficient removal of Tetracycline hydrochloride (TC) from solution. The results showed that the adsorption capacity of HCNTs/MnFe2O4 towards TC was 341 mg·g–1 at 303 K. The kinetic process can be elucidated using pseudo-second-order kinetic model while the adsorption equilibrium can be fitted by Freundlich model. The mechanism of adsorption may include electrostatic attraction, complexation, π-π stacking, etc. To initiate Fenton-like heterogeneous catalytic degradation, KPS was added to the adsorption system to degrade and remove TC from solution. The experimental results showed that HCNTs/MnFe2O4 as a catalyst could achieve up to 89% degradation of TC in the range of pH=3~8 due to its ability to generate active species such as ‧OH, SO4‧-, ‧O2- and 1O2 as confirmed from radical capturing experiments and EPR analysis. The removal efficiency after three adsorption regeneration or degradation cycles could reach up to 56%, confirming its good reusability properties. There are good prospects of HCNTs/MnFe2O4 for the practical removal of antibiotics from aqueous solutions.