Green and Economical Synthesis of Bi2WO6-Doped Geopolymers and Their Visible-Light Catalytic Degradation Mechanism Toward Tetracycline Hydrochloride

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Abstract
To address the environmental threats posed by antibiotic residues in water and the engineering bottlenecks of traditional powder photocatalysts—such as high cost, complicated preparation processes—a novel Bi2WO6-doped geopolymer composite photocatalytic material was successfully constructed through a facile and green synthesis strategy, utilizing low-cost and readily available geopolymers as the supporting matrix. The adsorption and degradation performance of this material toward tetracycline hydrochloride (TC), a typical antibiotic in aquatic environments, was systematically evaluated under visible-light irradiation. Experimental results demonstrate that the composite system exhibits a synergistic effect of adsorption enrichment by geopolymers and in situ photodegradation by Bi2WO6. Under the optimized conditions of merely 4% Bi2WO6 loading, catalyst dosage of 1 g/L, and an initial pH of 8.0, the degradation efficiency of TC reached 82.7% after 300 min of visible-light illumination. Even in real and complex water matrices, the material maintained a stable microstructure and highly efficient targeted removal capability. Radical scavenging experiments confirmed that the highly oxidative photogenerated holes (h+) generated by Bi2WO6 and the superoxide radicals (O2−) derived from the reduction of dissolved oxygen are the primary active species governing the efficient decomposition of TC. This study not only ameliorates the agglomeration tendency of pure-phase Bi2WO6 but also, by virtue of its inexpensive raw materials, facile synthesis process, and excellent adaptability to the weakly alkaline environments of actual water sources, provides a highly feasible strategy for the future low-cost, large-scale remediation of realistic aquatic environments and the treatment of industrial antibiotic wastewater.
Funding Information
  • Natural Science Foundation of Ningbo Municipality (2023J290)
  • National Natural Science Foundation of China (42207075)
  • The Project of Qian Xuesen Collaborative Research Center of Astrochemistry and Space Life Science, Institute of Drug Discovery Technology, Ningbo University (No. 2025011)

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