Induced S-scheme CoMn-LDH/C-MgO for advanced oxidation of amoxicillin under visible light

The development of low-cost photostable heterostructures with robust interfacial contact is critical for competent photoactivity and practical applications. The solid-state approach was successfully employed for fabrication of novel stacked oval-shaped CoMn-LDH/C-MgO composites with Mn-O-Mg bridges for efficient interfacial charge separation induced by S-scheme charge transfer for degradation of amoxicillin (AMX). The persulfate (PS) activation mechanism was confirmed by Raman analysis using bond length relationship to peak shifts. PS activation rate was 1.8 times of CoMn-LDH/PS for the S-scheme heterojunction with a 99.97 ± 0.16 % removal efficiency after 60 min of irradiation at pH 5.2. S-scheme photocatalytic ozonation increased AMX mineralization rate by up to 8 times compared to ozonation. Antimicrobial studies confirmed bacterial growth inhibition of composites and the by-products of AMX degradation had reduced bacterial growth inhibition compared to AMX. This work demonstrated the development of an S-scheme CoMn-LDH/C-MgO heterojunction as a visible light heterogeneous photocatalyst for degradation of pharmaceuticals.