Fabrication of a confined pyrite cinder-based photo-Fenton catalyst and its degradation performance for ciprofloxacin.

[Display omitted] • A confined m-PyC/FeOCl catalyst was prepared from pyrite cinder (PyC). • The residual m-PyC was used as the structure regulator for FeOCl formation. • M−PyC/FeOCl had good photo-Fenton catalytic activity reusability, and separability. • The combination of FeOCl and m-PyC caused a significantly synergistic effect. • The active species included h+ and OH, with h+ as the predominant active species. A series of novel confined photo-Fenton catalytic materials of pyrite cinder (PyC)-based FeOCl (m-PyC/FeOCl- φ) was successfully fabricated via a facile leaching–sorption–calcination method by using PyC as the iron source for FeOCl and the residue after iron extraction as the template and structure regulator for FeOCl generation. The resulting m-PyC/FeOCl-43% consists of relatively uniform square columnar or flake particles that are loaded in the channels of porous m-PyC matrix and interstitial space between particles, with a specific surface area of 4.90 m2/g, pore size of 8.10 nm, and band gap energy (E g) of 1.798 eV. It had significantly higher degradation activity than that of pure FeOCl and m-PyC in the photo-Fenton catalytic reaction system, a wide pH range of 3–7, and excellent reusability, separability, and thermal stability below 350 °C. The degradation of ciprofloxacin (CIP) catalyzed by m-PyC/FeOC-43% was mostly completed within 15 min under favorable conditions, and the corresponding k app value was 0.1532 min−1, which is 35.6 times and 9.6 times higher than those of m-PyC and FeOCl, respectively. An appropriate amount of m-PyC can effectively template and regulate the structure and morphology of FeOCl on it and efficiently expand the response range of irradiated light and promote the separation of photogenic e−/h+ pairs and the generation of OH and h+. FeOCl and m-PyC in m-PyC/FeOC-43% synergistically degraded CIP to enhance the photo-Fenton catalytic degradation efficiency under H 2 O 2 and visible light irradiation. The active species produced during photo-Fenton catalytic process included h+ and OH, and h+ was the predominant degradable active species. This work introduces a new approach for the resource utilization of PyC and provides a promising efficient and economical photo-Fenton catalysts for removing fluoroquinolones antibiotics from wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]