Studies on photocatalytic degradation of pharmaceutical contaminants in wastewater using bismuth based photocatalysts

Abstract

A large variety of pharmaceutical contaminants have been detected in water sources due to discharges like pharmaceutical industry effluents, hospital wastes, human and animal excreta, etc. These pharmaceutical compounds e.g. levofloxacin, ciprofloxacin, ketoprofen, naproxen, diclofenac, ofloxacin, etc. are highly stable and persistent and have adverse effects on marine and land organisms. Herein, we report the facile synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic degradation of bismuth based photocatalysts. The prepared photocatalysts were synthesized by hydrothermal process, chemical precipitation, combustion method and further characterized using several techniques such as powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), UVdiffusive reflectance spectroscopy (UV-DRS), transmission emission microscopy (TEM) and X-ray photon electron spectroscopy (XPS). The photocatalytic activity of as-prepared bismuth based photocatalysts was evaluated under visible light and the degradation of levofloxacin drug and ofloxacin drug in aqueous phase. newline