Simple synthesis of CaTiO3/g-C3N4 heterojunction for efficient photodegradation of methylene blue and levofloxacin

Calcium titanate (CaTiO3) has received more and more attention due to the excellent physicochemical properties. However, in the process of photocatalysis, the photogenerated carriers are very easy to recombine. Based on this problem, g-C3N4 modified CaTiO3 photocatalyst was prepared via calcination. The properties of CaTiO3/g-C3N4 were analyzed through XRD, SEM, XPS, UV-vis and TGA. The optimized CaTiO3/g-C3N4 could achieve 100% and 87.7% removal rate of methylene blue (MB) and levofloxacin (LVF), respectively, under a 500 W mercury lamp illumination within 120 min. In addition, the effects of photocatalyst dosage, solution pH and co-existing ions in water on the degradation process were systematically investigated. A possible charge transmission mechanism was analyzed and the LVF degradation pathway was proposed. This work will provide a new strategy to syn-thesize cost-effective CaTiO3 composites.

Automated summary

In this study, g-C3N4 modified CaTiO3 photocatalyst was prepared and characterized. The optimized CaTiO3/g-C3N4 showed high efficiency in the removal of methylene blue (MB) and levofloxacin (LVF) under mercury lamp illumination. The effects of photocatalyst dosage, solution pH, and co-existing ions in water were investigated, and a charge transmission mechanism and LVF degradation pathway were proposed. This work presents a new strategy for the synthesis of cost-effective CaTiO3 composites.