Two birds with one stone: Mussel-inspired anchoring strategy enabling full-spectrum utilization and superior carriers transfer capacity for efficient photocatalytic degradation and antibacterial

• Published in: Chemical engineering journal (Lausanne, Switzerland : 1996) Switzerland : 1996), 2024-12, Vol.501, p.157537, Article 157537
• Main Authors: Xu, Hao, Zhou, Chengliang, Li, Xingong
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibacterial; Antibiotics degradation; Heterojunction; Mussel-inspired; Photocatalysis; Polydopamine
• ISSN: 1385-8947
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cej.2024.157537

[Display omitted] •A mussel-inspired anchoring strategy is used for fabricating heterojunction photocatalyst.•Polydopamine transition layer promotes the heterogeneous nucleation of ZIF-8 on HTCC.•Polydopamine can simultaneously improve the carrier transfer and light utilization capacities of the PDA@HTCC/ZIF-8ZnO.•PDA@HTCC/ZIF-8ZnO has superior full-spectrum photocatalytic degradation performance.•PDA@HTCC/ZIF-8ZnO possesses excellent self-adaptive antibacterial capacity. Antibiotic pollution that often leads to the increases in the prevalence of resistance represents unneglectable risks to human health. Photocatalysis shows great potential in addressing the antibiotic pollution issue. However, developing photocatalysts integrating full-spectrum photocatalysis and self-adaptive antibacterial performances still remains challenges due to the limited utilization rate of light and carrier transfer capacity. Herein, a mussel-inspired anchoring strategy was employed to fabricate polydopamine coated Hydrothermal carbon carbide ZIF-8ZnO (PDA@HTCC/ZIF-8ZnO) heterojunction photocatalyst. The PDA coating was used as a transition layer to promote the heterogeneous nucleation of ZIF-8 on HTCC. Benefiting from the interfacial connections formed by metal coordination interactions between catechol groups of PDA coating and metal sites of ZIF-8, the carrier transfer capacity of PDA@HTCC/ZIF-8ZnO was improved and the range of light that can be utilized for the PDA@HTCC/ZIF-8ZnO was broadened. Therefore, the PDA@HTCC/ZIF-8ZnO heterojunction presented outstanding full-spectrum photocatalytic degradation and antibacterial performances. The full-spectrum degradation efficiency of tetracycline by PDA@HTCC/ZIF-8ZnO reached 98.7 % in 50 min. Moreover, the antimicrobial efficacy of PDA@HTCC/ZIF-8ZnO against E. coli exceeded 90 % under both light and dark conditions. The promotion effect of PDA transition layer on electrons transfer has been confirmed by DFT calculations. Under light irradiation, PDA@HTCC/ZIF-8ZnO gradually degrades tetracycline through demethylation, deamination, decarboxylation reactions, and ring-opening reactions, ultimately generating CO2 and H2O. This innovative strategy benefits the future heterojunction photocatalysts design for efficient solution of antibiotics pollution and the derivative drug-resistant bacteria issues.