Photocatalytic degradation of cephalexin by g-CN/Zn doped FeO under visible light.

In this work, we reported synthesis a novel magnetically separable g-CN/Zn doped FeO composite (g-CN/ZnFe) by a simple polyol thermal method. The characteristics of the was checked by XRD, SEM, TEM, XPS, PL technologies. The optimized weight ratio of g-CN and Zn doped FeO was investigated. In addition, the photocatalytic activities of the composite products were checked by degradation of Cephalexin (CEX) under visible light. The results showed that g-CN/ZnFe composite with an added 20% g-CN exhibited the highest photocatalytic activity for cephalexin under visible light irradiation. The improved photocatalytic activity of 20% g-CN/ZnFe can be ascribed to the low combination rate of photoinduced electron/hole pairs. Especially, g-CN/ZnFe can be recovered easily by using an external magnetic field and the high stability after six runs. These properties of the g-CN/ZnFe could be a promising photocatalyst for the degradation of pharmaceutical contaminants.