Study on Fe-doped BiOBr with enhanced visible photocatalytic activity for the degradation of levofloxacin

In this study, Fe-doped BiOBr photocatalysts were prepared by hydrothermal method. Due to the unique flowerlike structure of the composite materials, when the Fe-ions doping amount was 3 mol%, the degradation rate of levofloxacin was 85.06 % within 30 min. After 5 cycles, the degradation rate of Fe-BiOBr could still reach 83.46 %, it exhibited good photocatalytic activity. In addition, the possible degradation products and pathways were predicted by LC-MS, and toxicity analysis of intermediates was carried out. In addition, the free radical capture experiments and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) revealed that h+, center dot OH and center dot O-2 were the main reactive species, which in turn suggested the possible photocatalytic mechanism for the Fe-doped BiOBr system.