Design of Ag3VO4/ZnO nanocrystals as visible-light-active photocatalyst for efficient and rapid oxidation of ciprofloxacin antibiotic waste

• Published in: Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers 2022-04, Vol.133, p.104268, Article 104268
• Main Authors: Shawky, Ahmed, Albukhari, Soha M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibiotic waste; Ceramic oxides; Recyclability; Sol-gel synthesis; Tri-block copolymer; Visible-light photocatalysis
• ISSN: 1876-1070; 1876-1089
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jtice.2022.104268

•Humble combination of Ag3VO4/ZnO n-n nanojunction accomplished by solution route.•Ag3VO4 surged visible light harvesting and reduce both bandgap and charge recombination.•Photooxidation of CPF over 3% Ag3VO4/ZnO is 48 and 15 folds greater than ZnO and P25.•Fast miniralization of CPF within 45 min by dose tuning and sustainable recyclability. Oxidative mineralization of antibiotic waste by visible light active semiconductor photocatalysts become an important issue to prevent the possible crisis of antimicrobial resistance to these materials. On the other hand, the engineered design of sustainable and efficient photocatalyst is still under development stage due to some obstacles like large bandgap energy (Eg) and the rapid charge recombination In this work, a surfactant-assisted sol-gel process is used to synthesize mesostructured ZnO nanocrystals which are subsequently loaded with minor amounts (1.0–4.0 wt.%) of nanocrystalline Ag3VO4 by coprecipitation to form heterostructured Ag3VO4/ZnO photocatalyst. Produced nanostructures revealed the uniform distribution of ∼5.9 nm of monoclinic Ag3VO4 decorating 58.6 nm wurtzite ZnO nanocrystals as confirmed by XRD, TEM, and XPS characterizations. In addition, the samples displayed a mesoporous texture with 123–150 m2 g‒1 of surface area. The incorporation of Ag3VO4 to ZnO enhanced visible-light harvesting and reduced Eg from 3.34 to ∼2.4 eV. The designed photocatalysts showed a rapid photooxidation of ciprofloxacin (CPF) as an emerging antibiotic pollutant in the water. The 3.0% Ag3VO4/ZnO revealed complete mineralization of 10-ppm CPF within 45 min of visible-light irradiation at workable reusability. This magnificent performance is referred to as the homogenous distribution of Ag3VO4 on the ZnO surface that allows efficient separation and mobility of photoinduced charges and subsequent oxidation of CPF in a short time. [Display omitted]