Photocatalytic fuel cell for simultaneous antibiotic wastewater treatment and electricity production by anatase TiO2 nanoparticles anchored on Ni foam

Photocatalytic fuel cell (PFC) holds great potential for the sustainable production of electricity and degradation of organic pollutants for solving global energy and environmental problems. However, the efficient photodegradation of organic dyes and antibiotic drugs, such as ciprofloxacin (CIP) and methylene blue (MB), remains challenging. Aiming at improving the separation efficiency of hole and electron for electricity generation in the PFC system, TiO₂-NPs@NF-x photoanode was fabricated by a cost-effective and laborsaving hydrothermal approach. The as-fabricated photoanode demonstrated abundant active sites, enhanced light harvesting capacity and photogenerated charge carrier separation. At a CIP-HCl concentration of 10 mg/L and pH value of about 7, 85% of CIP-HCl can be efficiently removed after 3 h irradiation by 300 W Xe lamp. TiO₂-NPs@NF-20 photoelectrode based PFC system exhibited an impressed ability to simultaneously degrade ciprofloxacin and generate electricity under light irradiation with an open circuit voltage of 1.021 V, short circuit current density and maximum power density of 2.4 mA/cm², 0.357 mW/cm², respectively. This work provided a cost-effective method for the treatment of organic waste and generation of electrical power.