The
serious problem of pharmaceutical and personal care product
pollution places great pressure on aquatic environments and human
health. Herein, a novel coating photocatalyst was synthesized by adhering
Ag-AgCl/WO3/g-C3N4 (AWC) nanoparticles
on a polydopamine (PDA)-modified melamine sponge (MS) through a facile
layer-by-layer assembly method to degrade trimethoprim (TMP). The
formed PDA coating was used for the anchoring of nanoparticles, photothermal
conversion, and hydrophilic modification. TMP (99.9%; 4 mg/L) was
removed in 90 min by the photocatalyst coating (AWC/PDA/MS) under
visible light via a synergistic photocatalytic–photothermal
performance route. The stability and reusability of the AWC/PDA/MS
have been proved by cyclic experiments, in which the removal efficiency
of TMP was still more than 90% after five consecutive cycles with
a very little mass loss. Quantitative structure–activity relationship
analysis revealed that the ecotoxicities of the generated intermediates
were lower than those of TMP. Furthermore, the solution matrix effects
on the photocatalytic removal efficiency were investigated, and the
results revealed that the AWC/PDA/MS still maintained excellent photocatalytic
degradation efficiency in several actual water and simulated water
matrices. This work develops recyclable photocatalysts for the potential
application in the field of water remediation.
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