Construction of multicomponent CoFe2O4/g-C3N4/rGO ternary composites for degradation of tetracycline antibiotics combined with antimicrobial and antioxidant properties

In this work, we employed response surface methods to develop and effectively manufacture a solid state 2D/3D/ 2D rGO/CoFe2O4/g-C3N4 nanocomposite. We accomplished this by first embedding 3D CoFe2O4 nanoparticles (NPs) on 2D g-C3N4 nanosheets (NSs), resulting in a 3D/2D CoFe2O4/g-C3N4, and then adding 2D rGO nano- sheets using a simple hydrothermal approach. We employed XRD, FTIR, SEM, TEM, UV, PL, XPS, and BET for analysing the photocatalysts. The inclusion of rGO increased the number of electron transport routes in the photocatalysts and made the CoFe2O4/g-C3N4 semiconductors more durable. In comparison to CoFe2O4, the rGO/CoFe2O4/g-C3N4 combination exhibited an apparent quantum yield (AQY) of 23.56 % and a photocatalytic degradation efficiency of 89 % in an aqueous tetracycline (TC) antibiotic solution. Scavenger research revealed that, while holes are the most active species, superoxide and hydroxyl radicals are equally significant. We assessed the initial photocatalytic performance, which was pH-dependent. Due to the recycling test findings, the rGO/CoFe2O4/g-C3N4 photocatalyst degrades performance by just 3.5 % after 5 cycles of recycling. The rGO/ CoFe2O4/g-C3N4 system has also shown excellent photocurrent generation. Likewise, the rGO/CoFe2O4/g-C3N4 nanocomposite demonstrated strong antioxidant activity that exceeded ascorbic acid.