Layered Double Hydroxide-Based Composites for Concerted Decontamination of Water

A series of composites was prepared starting from five types of LDHs, which were then exchanged with three types of metallo-phthalocyanines, and, in the end, magnetic nanoparticles were attached. In the case of LDHs containing Fe, characterization data showed that there was a partial oxidation from Fe2+ to Fe3+. Samples containing evident LDH structures performed better in general than the ones containing iron oxide mixtures, the composites being more active towards amoxicillin removal compared with ampicillin removal. The nature of the phthalocyanine did not have such a great influence, although some differences in the activity were observed. The removal was a combination between adsorption and photocatalytic degradation. The best composites for this application were those based on Mg0.325Fe0.325Al0.25-LDH prepared by co-precipitation in the presence of NaOH and Na2CO3. They presented high adsorption capacity in 10 min and, at the same time, high photocatalytic activity for both amoxicillin and ampicillin.