Study on fabrication of ZnO@TiO₂ nanocomposite for perozone degradation of amoxicillin from aqueous solution

Thanh Diem Ngo Thi¹, Lan Huong Nguyen^1*, Xuan Hoan Nguyen¹, Hiep Vu Phung², Minh Thanh Le¹

¹Ho Chi Minh city University of Food Industry (HUFI)

²Southern Natural Resources and Environment Company (CERS), Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment

Received 14 October 2021; accepted 26 November 2021

 

Abstract:

In this study, a simple method for fabrication of a ZnO@TiO₂ nanocomposite was developed to degrade amoxicillin (AMX) from aqueous solution by heterogeneous photocatalytic perozone under UV irradiation (O₃/H₂O₂/ZnO@TiO₂/UV). ZnO nanoparticles were formed by the sol-gel method. The ZnO-NPs were then composited with commercial TiO₂ at modification ratios of 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50% of ZnO-NPs to generate ZnO@TiO₂ nanocomposites. The physical-chemical characteristics of ZnO, TiO₂, and ZnO@TiO₂ at the optimal modification ratio were determined using S_BET, SEM, EDX, and XRD analysis. The catalytic activity of ZnO@TiO₂ was evaluated by degradation of AMX in an O₃/H₂O₂/ZnO@TiO₂/UV system. The results showed that 10%ZnO@TiO₂ exhibited the highest catalytic activity in degradation (in term of COD removal) of AMX with about 80% for 70 min of reaction time. This efficiency was higher than that of both systems using ZnO or TiO₂ only by double. This primary finding demonstrates the feasibility of 10%ZnO@TiO₂ photocatalysts in perozone systems to degrade persistent organic compounds in practical applications.

Keywords: amoxicillin, ball milling, perozone, ZnO@TiO₂.

Classification number: 3.5