The promoted tetracycline visible-light-driven photocatalytic degradation efficiency of g-C3N4/FeWO4 Z-scheme heterojunction with peroxymonosulfate assisting and mechanism

•g-C3N4/FeWO4 Z-scheme heterojunction was prepared via hydrothermal method.•100% of TC can be eliminated in 3CN/FeWO4 + Vis + PMS system.•The synergistic effect between photocatalysis reaction and PMS assisting promoted TC illumination efficiency.•The mechanism and degradation pathway of TC were reasonably revealed. In this study, graphite carbon nitride (g-C3N4)/FeWO4 (CN/FeWO4) Z-scheme hetero-junction photocatalyst was prepared via hydrothermal method to promote the photoinduced carriers separation and peroxymonosulfate (PMS) was firstly employed for the enhanced degradation of tetracycline (TC) by CN/FeWO4 under visible light irradiation. The results show that TC removal in 3CN/FeWO4 + Vis + PMS system process was higher than the sum of that in 3CN/FeWO4 + Vis system and 3CN/FeWO4 + PMS system. This significant enhancement of TC removal was mainly due to a synergistic effect between photocatalysis of 3CN/FeWO4 + Vis system and 3CN/FeWO4 + PMS system. The various reactive oxygen species (ROSs) including 1O2, h+, •O2−, •OH and Fe(IV) were responsible for TC degradation. Moreover, the as-fabricated 3CN/FeWO4 had satisfactory stability, reusability, good ant-interference ability and universal applicability for various organics. This study provided one new strategy to boost the antibiotic removal efficiency by FeWO4-based visible light driven photocatalysis technology.