Efficient Solar Light Driven Degradation of Tetracycline by Fe-EDTA Modified g‑C₃N₄ Nanosheets

Tetracycline is widely used in medicine and usually released into the water environment directly, which brings harm to the human health and ecosystem equilibrium. In this study we developed a new strategy to efficiently remove tetracycline by a facile photocatalytic technique using a novel photocatalyst of Fe-EDTA modified g-C₃N₄ nanosheet. The photocatalyst was synthesized by doping metal Fe into the framework of g-C₃N₄ nanosheets with uniform dispersion and high stability through a facile thermal pyrolysis method using Fe-EDTA as precursor. Microstructure characterizations reveal that the Fe species exist mainly in the state of Fe³⁺ and chemically coordinate to g-C₃N₄ nanosheets host, which alter the electronic structures, facilitate the charge transfer, and increase specific surface area and light absorption, resulting in a remarkably enhanced photocatalytic activity. This work introduces a promising precursor of Fe-EDTA and a facile method for integrating transition metal species into the framework of g-C₃N₄ nanosheets with drastically enhanced photocatalytic activity.