The dataset of the article “Bio-Carbon Quantum Dots Modified TiO2 Nanocrystals for Photocatalytic Degradation of PLA and PET Microplastics”

All the experiments and tests in this dataset were conducted near Changzhou, and the duration was from January 2024 to December 2025 and all the data were named after the sample names. The description of the testing methods, formats, and processing procedures is as follows：SEM was performed using a Thermor Fisher QUANT 250 FEG scanning electron microscope (USA) with an accelerating voltage of 200 V to 30 kV. The photos format are TIF, corresponding to Figure 2 and Figure 7 in the article and Figure S2 and Figure S3 in the supplementary materials.EDS mapping analysis was conducted using a Oxford Instruments X-MAX-50‌ energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (Britain) in area scanning mode. The result is in the format of docXRD was performed using a Bruker D/MAX-2500 X-ray diffractometer (BIGAKU, Japan) with Cu-Kα radiation at a scanning rate of 5°/min, tube voltage of 40 kV, tube current of 40 mA and a diffraction angle range of 10° to 80°. The original data was in raw format and was converted into txt format using the Jade software. Additionally, when drawing the graph, in order to present the left and right data more clearly, the vertical coordinates of some data were adjusted uniformly. UV-Vis absorption spectra were obtained using a UV-1081 ultraviolet-visible diffuse reflectance spectrometer of Beijing Beifen Ruili Analytical Instrument Co., LTD.Datas format include STD and TXT. Additionally, due to the problem of baseline drift in the instrument, the baselines were corrected when processing the data. UV-Vis DRS absorption spectra were obtained using a Shimadzu UV-3600i Plus ultraviolet-visible-near-infrared Spectrophotometer. The data format is spc and txt. When processing the data, it is necessary to use the equation (αhv)^(1/n) = A(hv - Eg) to plot the (αhν)² curve against the hν curve based on the diffuse reflection absorption spectral data. FTIR analysis was conducted using a Thermo Fisher Scientific Nicolet iS50 Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (USA) with a scanning range of 4000 cm⁻¹ to 400 cm⁻¹. The relevant data formats include CSV、TIF and SPA. When drawing the graph, in order to present the left and right data more clearly, the vertical coordinates of some data were adjusted uniformly. The results correspond to Figure 8 in the article.BET analysis was employed the SI series high speed automated surface area and pore size analyzer of Quantachrome Instruments（USA）and their formats include excel and pdf. The results correspond to Figure 5 and Table 2 in the article.Photoelectrochemical Performance Testing (I-T):Electrode Preparation: 50 mg of the catalyst was weighed and added to 1 mL of anhydrous ethanol. The mixture was stirred and ultrasonically dispersed to form a suspension. This suspension was then spin-coated onto an FTO glass substrate at 2000 rpm and dried in an oven at 100°C.The testing was conducted under a 100 mW/cm² xenon lamp light source by CHI660E electrochemical workstation of Shanghai Chenhua Instrument Co., Ltd.. A standard three-electrode system was used, with an Ag/AgCl reference electrode, a Pt wire counter electrode, and the as-prepared TiO2/CQDs film as the working electrode, immersed in a 0.5 M Na₂SO₄ electrolyte solution. The I-t test parameters were set as follows: initial voltage 0 V, data resolution 0.1 s, with the light source being manually blocked every 20 seconds. The original data is in bin format. To process the data, it needs to be converted into txt format using the software of CHI660E. Furthermore, the area of the working electrodes is listed in the Excel file named "Area" and in the I-T graph, the current needs to be divided by the area. Degradation of Microplastics data: A 250 W xenon lamp with an irradiance of 100 mW/cm² was used as the light source. The experimental procedure was as follows: 80 mg of catalyst and 80 mg of microplastics were added to PBS buffer solutions with pH values of 5.8，6.8, 7.4 and 8.0 respectively. The mixtures were stirred in the dark for 30 minutes to achieve adsorption-desorption equilibrium. The samples were then exposed to the light source for 48 hours under continuous stirring. After degradation, the solid mixture of catalyst and microplastics was collected by centrifugation, washed several times with pure water and dried at 70°C for 12 hours. The relevant explanatory data are listed in the Excel file named "Weight data before and after degradation".The weight loss of the microplastics was calculated using the following formula:where M₀ (mg) and M₄₈h (mg) represent the total mass of the photocatalyst and microplastics before irradiation and after 48 hours of irradiation, respectively.Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) measurements were performed using a Bruker A300emx-plus spectrometer (Germany). Photoluminescence (PL) and time-resolved PL (TRPL) analyses were conducted on Edinburgh Instruments FLS1000(UK), with a scan range of 300–800 nm, using an excitation wavelength of 340 nm. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was conducted on a Hitachi HF5000 (probe aberration-corrected) instrument. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was performed using a Shimadzu AXIS Ultra DLD X-ray photoelectron spectrometer (Japan). HS-GCMS was performed using an Agilent 7890 gas chromatograph–mass spectrometer (Agilent Technologies, USA). LC–MS analysis was conducted on a Waters 2695 Separation Module coupled with a Waters ZQ2000 single quadrupole mass spectrometer equipped with an ESI source.