Sonocatalytic degradation of tetracycline hydrochloride using SnO hollow-nanofiber decorated with UiO-66-NH.

In this study, a porous hollow nanofiber SnO was decorated with UiO-66-NH nanoparticles with straightforward solvothermal method and utilized for sonocatalytic degradation of tetracycline (TC) by ultrasonic irradiation (USI). The prepared materials were characterized using different techniques such as SEM, EDS, FTIR, XRD, BET, XPS, UV-DRS, EIS, and zeta potential. SnO PHNF/UiO-66-NH nanocomposite offered the highest apparent rate constant of 0.0397 min which was 6.3 and 3.1 times higher than those obtained for SnO PHNF and UiO-66-NH, respectively. The integration of nanocomposite components revealed the synergy factor of 1.58, which can be due to the created heterojunctions resulted in efficiently charge carriers separation and retaining high redox ability. The effects of different affecting parameters such as TC initial concentration, pH of the solution, catalyst dosage, trapping agents, and coexisting anions on the catalytic performance were examined. The inhibitory effects of anions were confirmed to be decreased in the sequence of Cl > NO > SO, while the sonocatalytic efficiency of the nanocomposite improved considerably in the presence of humic acid and bicarbonate. Also, the excellent performance of the catalyst was preserved during six successive cycles, suggesting the high stability of the prepared catalyst. In addition, based on the scavenger analysis, the created O, OH, and holes were contributed to the TC degradation. In conclusion, the creation heterojunction is an impressive methodology for improving the sonocatalytic activity of a catalyst, and SnO PHNF/UiO-66-NH nanocomposite was introduced as a satisfactory catalyst in sonocatalytic degradation of organic contaminants.