@CN photocatalyst, which degraded 97.8% of tetracycline within 60 min under visible light. The degradation pathways, elucidated through density functional theory (DFT) calculations and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis, were found to involve hydroxylation, demethylation, amide cleavage, and ring opening, ultimately leading to mineralization. This work presents an integrated adsorption-conversion-catalysis strategy that enables the repurposing of hazardous heavy metal-laden waste into value-added photocatalytic materials, thereby providing a sustainable solution for synergistic pollution control and resource recovery.
Huang et al. (2026) studied this question.