Synergistic self-driven and heterogeneous effect of a biomass-derived urchin-like MnO/CN Janus micromotor catalyst for efficient degradation of carbamazepine.

It is well known that obtaining efficient carbamazepine degradation materials or rapid carbamazepine-removal methods is still a challenge in the field of environmental remediation. Hence, the present study aimed to concurrently address these issues by combining a self-driven, heterostructured and low-cost biomass-templated urchin-like Janus micromotor catalyst for highly efficient carbamazepine degradation. The catalyst could autonomously move in a circle-like motion pattern O bubbles generated from the MnO-catalyzed decomposition of HO with a velocity of 223.5 ± 7.0 μm s in 1% HO. Benefiting from the well-structured heterojunction at the interface of CN and MnO, carbamazepine (CBZ) was degraded by 61% in 100 min under sunlight irradiation. In addition, density functional theory calculation results proved that the formation of the heterojunction structure promoted the generation of photo-generated carriers. Thus, the presented method provides a promising pathway for the rational construction and preparation of movable catalysts for the efficient removal of organic pollutants from wastewater.