Synergistic Dual Activation: Phenanthrenequinone-Polymer-Driven Photo-self-Fenton/Peroxydisulfate Integrated Process for Efficient Antibiotic Degradation

Antibiotic pollution poses severe environmental risks, necessitating efficient advanced degradation technologies. While photo-self-Fenton and photoactivated persulfate systems show promise, they still suffer from limitations such as the need for external additives and inefficient oxidant utilization. Herein, we develop a phenanthrenequinone-based conjugated microporous polymer (TEE-PQ) as a bifunctional photocatalyst to construct an integrated photo-self-Fenton coupled peroxydisulfate (P-SF-PDS) system for rapid antibiotic degradation. The quinone units in TEE-PQ act as bifunctional active sites, simultaneously enabling in situ H2O2 generation and efficient peroxydisulfate activation via a reversible quinone/hydroquinone redox cycle. This synergistic P-SF-PDS (TEE-PQ) system achieves 98% tetracycline removal within 15 min, with a notable synergistic factor of 4.0, significantly outperforming individual processes. Mechanistic studies reveal that the cooperation between in situ generated H2O2 and activated PDS promotes the production of multiple reactive oxygen species (•OH, SO4•–, O2•–, and 1O2), ensuring exceptional degradation efficiency. Notably, the TEE-PQ catalyst exhibits excellent stability over multiple cycles and broad applicability for degrading various organic pollutants. This work provides a novel strategy for designing integrated photocatalytic oxidation systems for practical wastewater remediation.