Sustainable PHBV/CuS Composite Obtained from Waste Valorization for Wastewater Purification by Visible Light-Activated Photocatalytic Activity

The persistency of antimicrobial compounds in the water cycle accelerates the issue of antimicrobial resistance. Therefore, effective wastewater remediation approaches, which can be implemented on a large scale, are urgently required. This study aims at preparing a sustainable organic/inorganic composite material that can photo-catalyze the degradation of organic pollutants in wastewater by using visible light. Specifically, films and porous composites are composed of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate) (PHBV) as supporting material, and copper sulfide (CuS) as active photocatalyst. It is noteworthy that the proposed composite can be fully produced from waste valorization, since PHBV is a polymer, which can be obtained by fermentation of vegetable wastes, and CuS is synthesized from industrial sulfur wastes. The produced composites show remarkable capabilities in the photodegradation of tetracycline and methylene blue, selected as model organic pollutants. Moreover, the PHBV/CuS composites can be reused multiple times with minimal loss in photocatalytic efficiency. The suggested approach is not only sustainable and cost-effective, but also solves issues occurring in the application of the photodegradation techniques currently reported, such as the consumption of fossil-based chemicals and photocatalyst removal from the purified water using with expensive procedures.