Increasing the production and consumption of antibiotics is one of the important challenges, one of the main consequences of which is increasing the concentration of antibiotics in wastewater and water sources. Various methods have been developed for the removal of antibiotics from wastewater and water sources, one of the most efficient of which is photocatalytic degradation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency and parameters affecting the photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline using covalent organic frameworks (COFs) as a novel photocatalyst structure. By defining a search protocol and three screening stages based on inclusion criteria, 27 articles were finally selected for review in 2025. The efficiency of COF structures in the photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline was reported to be higher than 90% in most studies, although parameters such as irradiation time, pH, and wavelength affected the efficiency. In general, an increasing trend in efficiency was reported with increasing irradiation time, but at high irradiation times, the slope of the increased efficiency was very low. pH has an important effect on efficiency due to its effect on the stability of the COF structure and also on pollutant adsorption, and in most studies, better performance was reported at alkaline pH. Need to catalyst dose in several times higher than the initial concentration of the pollutant is a crucial point in using COF for the photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline. COF structures have shown significant efficiency in the photocatalytic degradation of tetracycline under optimal conditions, but challenges such as required catalyst dose should be considered in future studies.
Majidian et al. (2026) studied this question.