High-efficiency decontamination of pharmaceutical wastewater: Synergistic effects from NaGdF4:Tm,Yb@Mn-MOFs composite photocatalysts

Water pollution caused by antibiotics poses a serious threat to human health and ecosystems. Rapid and efficient removal of antibiotic pollution in water by photocatalysts is one of the effective means to protect the environment and public health. Herein, a wide-spectral responsive upconversion NaGdF4:Yb,Tm@Mn-MOFs core-shell nanostructures were built by coating hexagonal NaGdF4:Yb,Tm cores with amino-functionalized manganese carboxylate MOFs (Mn-MOFs) shells, which exhibited good water dispersibility. Mn-MOFs catalysts is mainly concentrated in the ultraviolet region, while NaGdF4:Yb,Tm nanoparticles can transform infrared light into visible light or even higher energy ultraviolet light, which is harvested by the Mn-MOFs. The optimized nanostructures were tested under simulated solar light (After 120 min irradiation) in the degradation of tetracycline, oxytetracycline hydrochloride and tetracycline hydrochloride, while their degradation rates reached 70%, 72% and 75%, respectively. The better photocatalytic mechanism for antibiotics than its individual components was elucidated, which provides a potential strategy to broaden the full spectrum absorption of the wide bandgap semiconductors and apply for the field of environmental remediation. Herein, a NaGdF4:Tm,Yb@Mn-MOFs composite photocatalyst that can utilize both UV–visible and near-IR light is reported for the first time, and the synergistic degradation of antibiotics is investigated. The better photocatalytic mechanism for antibiotics than its individual components was elucidated. [Display omitted] •A wide-spectral responsive upconversion NaGdF4:Yb,Tm@Mn-MOFs core-shell nanostructures were built.•The NaGdF4:Yb,Tm@Mn-MOFs system shows high absorption of NIR light.•The NaGdF4:Yb,Tm@Mn-MOFs system shows the maximum removal of antibiotics.•The superior photocatalytic performance mechanism is proposed.