Light-driven Au-ZnO nanorod motors for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline

Authors：Liu, Meihuan; Jiang, Jiamiao; Tan, Haixin; Chen, Bin; Ou, Juanfeng; Wang, Hong; Sun, Jia; Liu, Lu; Wang, Fei; Gao, Junbin; Liu, Chang^*; Peng, Fei^*; Liu, Yun^*; Tu, Yingfeng^*

Source：Nanoscale, 2022, 14(35): 12804-12813.

DOI：10.1039/d2nr02441a

• ANTIBIOTICS
• REMOVAL
• MICROMOTOR

The abuse of antibiotics in human medicine and animal husbandry leads to the enrichment of antibiotic residues in aquatic environments, which has been a major problem of environmental pollution over the past decades. Therefore, it is urgent to develop a highly efficient approach to remove antibiotics from aquatic environments. Inspired by the motion characteristics of semiconductor-based micro-/nanomotors, a light-driven Au-ZnO nanomotor system based on vertically aligned ZnO arrays is successfully developed for the enhanced photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline (TC). Under UV light (lambda = 365 nm) illumination, these Au-ZnO nanomotors exhibit a high speed in deionized water and TC solution. Due to their efficient motion capability and Au-enhanced charge separation, these light-driven Au-ZnO nanomotors removed almost all TC (40 mg L-1) within 30 min and displayed stable photocatalytic activity for four cycles without any apparent deactivation. The as-developed motor-based strategy for enhanced antibiotic degradation has excellent potential in environmental governance.

• Institution
  y; 广东医学院; 中山大学; 南方医科大学