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Ciprofloxacin (CIP) in natural waters has been taken as a serious pollutant because of its hazardous biological and ecotoxicological effects. Here, a 3D nanocomposite photocatalyst g-C3N4/La-N-TiO2 (CN/La-N-TiO2) was successfully synthesized by a simple and reproducible in-situ synthetic method. The obtained composite was characterized by XRD, SEM, BET, TEM, mapping, IR, and UV-vis spectra. The photocatalytic degradation of ciprofloxacin was investigated by using CN/La-N-TiO2 nanocomposite. The main influential factors such as pH of the solution, initial CIP concentration, catalyst dosage, and coexisting ions were investigated in detail. The fastest degradation of CIP occurred at a pH of about 6.5, and CIP (5 mg/L starting concentration) was completely degraded in about 60 min after exposure to the simulated solar light. The removal rates were rarely affected by Na+ (10 mg·L−1), Ca2+ (10 mg·L−1), Mg2+ (10 mg·L−1), and urea (5 mg·L−1), but decreased in the presence of NO3− (10 mg·L−1). The findings indicate that CN/La-N-TiO2 nanocomposite is a green and promising photocatalyst for large-scale applications and would be a candidate for the removal of the emerging antibiotics present in the water environment.

Titanium dioxide (TiO2), which is codoped with nine different rare earth mental ions (RE3+ = lanthanum (La3+), cerium (Ce3+), praseodymium (Pr3+), neodymium (Nd3+), samarium (Sm3+), gadolinium (Gd3+), erbium (Er3+), ytterbium (Yb3+), lutetium (Lu3+)) and nitrogen (N), are synthesized by non‐hydrolytic sol‐gel method under different calcination temperatures. The morphology, structure and performance of as‐prepared samples are characterized by X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscope (SEM), X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV‐vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and ultraviolet‐visible absorption spectroscopy. The results indicat that co‐doping can inhibit the particles growth significantly and extend light‐absorption to the visible region. Nd/N and Pr/N co‐doped TiO2 (calcining temperature at 380 °C) exhibit superior photocatalytic activity toward methyl orange (MO) degradation under visible light irradiation for 150 min, the degradation rate of MO solution are approximately 91 and 89% respectively. By comparison, the degradation rate are only 43 and 7% for the N‐TiO2 and pure TiO2 respectively.