Photo-Fenton reaction for the degradation of tetracycline using α-Fe2O3/NaTaO3 heterojunctions

In this work, α-Fe2O3/NaTaO3 heterojunctions were prepared by an impregnation method. The results showed that α-Fe2O3/NaTaO3 heterojunctions present higher catalytic performance for H2O2 activation, with 78.37% tetracycline hydrochloride degradation in 60 min under simulated solar light irradiation, which is around 2.8 and 1.6 times higher than that of α-Fe2O3 and NaTaO3 under the same conditions, respectively. The success relies on α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles which enable increased visible-light absorption and enhanced H2O2 activation efficiency. This work demonstrates that α-Fe2O3/NaTaO3 heterojunctions will be a promising catalyst for removing antibiotics from wastewater in the presence of H2O2 and light irradiation.