Hierarchical porous flower-like NiO/NiS with S-type heterojunction for deep mineralization of antibiotics.

A 3D flower-like NiO/NiS S-scheme photocatalyst (MNOS-3) mineralizes tetracycline and oxytetracycline under visible light with rate constants of 3.85 × 10−2 and 3.61 × 10−2 min−1, respectively.

• Why it matters: Antibiotic contamination requires photocatalysts that generate sufficient reactive species and enable deep mineralization rather than partial breakdown.
• What they did: MNOS-3 was built from Ni-MOF calcination and in-situ solvothermal sulfurization, forming 2D ultrathin nanosheets with mesoporous channels; visible-light kinetics and radical trapping (·O2− > h+ > ·OH) were measured.
• The result: Interfacial electric-field evidence from XPS and Mott-Schottky supports an S-scheme charge-transfer pathway that preserves NiS’s −1.34 V conduction band and NiO’s +1.59 V valence band, enabling ROS-driven defunctionalization, ring opening, and deep mineralization to CO2 and H2O with toxicity elimination.

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