Facile design of surface electric field driven tourmaline/g-C3N4 layered stacked photocatalysts with enhanced photocatalytic activity for antibiotic removal

In the field of photocatalysis, Graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) has received a lot of attention for its superior functionality and benefits. However, it suffers from the fatal defect of low charge separation efficiency, which is well addressed by tourmaline's self-contained surface electric field. In this work, tourmaline/g-C3N4 (T/CN) composites were successfully synthesized. Due to its surface electric field effect, tourmaline and g-C3N4 are stacked on top of each other. It makes its specific surface area increase greatly and more active sites are exposed. Additionally, the rapid separation of photogenerated electron holes under the action of electric field promotes the photocatalytic reaction. T/CN exhibited excellent photocatalytic performance under visible light, with 99.9% Tetracycline (TC 50 mg L−1) removal after 30 min. Compared to tourmaline (0.0160 min−1) and g-C3N4 (0.0230 min−1), the T/CN composite's reaction rate constant (0.1754 min−1) was 11.0 and 7.6 times higher. A series of characterizations also determined the structural properties and catalytic performance of the T/CN composites, which were found to have a larger specific surface area, narrower band gap, and higher charge separation efficiency compared to the monomer. In addition, the toxicity of tetracycline intermediates and their degradative pathways were investigated, and the toxicity of the intermediates was found to be reduced. Given the quenching experiments and active substance determination, it was also found that h+ and ·O2− play a major role. This work provides more inspiration for photocatalytic material performance research as well as green innovation for environmental management. [Display omitted] •Simple synthesis of high performance and green materials from tourmaline and g-C3N4.•Tourmaline surface electric field can effectively separate photogenerated electron holes.•T/CN effectively reduces the compounding of photogenerated electron-hole.•T/CN exhibited great photocatalytic removal of antibiotics and production of h+ and ·O2−.•The toxicity of tetracycline intermediates was systematically evaluated.