α-(Fe, Cu)OOH/RGO nanocomposites for heterogeneous photo-Fenton-like degradation of ciprofloxacin under visible light irradiation.

Ciprofloxacin (CIP) is a third-generation fluoroquinolones (FQs) antibiotic, and the occurrence of CIP in the water environment has raised growing concerns owning to its environmental toxicity. In this paper, a novel α-(Fe, Cu)OOH/RGO nanocomposite was synthesized via a one-step reflux method for CIP degradation through a photo-Fenton-like process. When the RGO content was 1 wt%, CIP degradation ratio by the α-(Fe, Cu)OOH/RGO nanocomposite reached 100% under visible light irradiation within 120 min, and total organic carbon (TOC) removal ratio reached 60% within 180 min. The result of molecular fluorescence spectra highlighted that the loading of RGO on the α-(Fe, Cu)OOH significantly increased the content of hydroxyl radicals (·OH) in the heterogeneous photo-Fenton-like system and simultaneously inhibited the recombination of photogenerated electron and hole, which played critical roles in the enhancement of CIP degradation. In addition, 11 main intermediates were identified as the degradation products of CIP in the α-(Fe, Cu)OOH/RGO/HO/visible light reaction systems using liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometer (LC-MS) analyses. The results demonstrated that three degradation pathways for CIP removal by α-(Fe, Cu)OOH/RGO nanocomposite occurred, including (i) oxidation on the piperazine ring and dealkylation, (ii) defluorination and decarboxylation, and (iii) hydroxylation on the quinolone ring. This work would provide a novel insight of CIP degradation pathways in photo-Fenton-like processes.