A bismuth tungstate (Bi 2 WO 6 ) nanoplate surface decorated with amine-functionalized crystalline carbon nanodots (ACCN) is developed as a sunlight responsive photocatalyst for degradation of tetracycline and ciprofloxacin antibiotics. The photocatalyst, named ACCN/Bi 2 WO 6 , has been thoroughly characterized to elucidate its structural, morphological, textural, and compositional aspects. The crystalline carbon nanodots are synthesized by hydrothermal treatment of ortho-phenylenediamine with a zwitterionic L-alanine, which offered doping of a large number of nitrogen atoms. Because of these features, compared to pristine Bi 2 WO 6 , the optimized batch of the photocatalyst prepared with 2 wt % ACCN (named 2-ACCN/Bi 2 WO 6 ) exhibited significantly enhanced degradation of tetracycline (96%) and ciprofloxacin (95%) within 75 min of sunlight exposure. The corresponding photocatalytic degradation rates are 0.030 and 0.027 min −1 , respectively. The mechanism involved in photocatalytic degradation is addressed in the light of ( a) enhanced absorption of sunlight by 2-ACCN/Bi 2 WO 6 , (b) favorable Z-scheme-like band positions of Bi 2 WO 6 and the HOMO−LUMO levels of ACCN, (c) large photocurrent density, (d) inhibition of charge carrier recombination and formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), (e) in situ generation of a superoxide radical anion (O 2 −• ), confirmed by specific ROS scavenging studies, and (f) identification of intermediate products by ultraperformance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry.
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