Pharmaceuticals in water are considered hazardous to both human health and the environment. Innovative approaches and novel materials are needed to address this issue. In this study, an efcient and inexpensive TiO2 catalyst co-doped with iron and copper (TiO2–Fe–Cu) was synthesized and applied for the purifcation of water contaminated with tetracycline (TC). The TiO2–Fe–Cu catalyst demonstrated signifcantly higher TC adsorption, up to eight times more than pristine TiO2, with an adsorption capacity of 25.43 mg/g. Kinetic studies indicated that the adsorption of TC on the catalyst followed the pseudo-second-order model, while the isotherm ftted well with the Langmuir model. The adsorption mechanism of TC was attributed to complexation and hydrogen bonding between TC and metals on the surface of TiO2. Furthermore, the catalyst was successfully photo-regenerated, maintaining its adsorption capacity for up to three cycles. Finally, the catalyst was immobilized in water-based acrylic paint, and both forms (powder and supported) exhibited efcient photocatalytic degradation of a mixture of pollutants.
