Banana peels based zinc oxide doped silver nanoparticles for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of paracetamol

Abstract

Paracetamol (PCM) is a common drug for daily use in each household and considering PCM’s availability and huge production, traces of waste PCM present in water sources are concerned. Photocatalysis technology shows promising results with the utilization of semiconductor materials and light energy to degrade and remove organic pollutants. In this study, zinc oxide/silver nanoparticles (ZnO/Ag NPs) photocatalyst were synthesized via sol-gel and co-precipitation technique with the aid of banana peels extract (BPE) for photodegradation of PCM. The produced photocatalysts were characterized by UltravioletVisible Spectroscopy (UV-Vis), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), surface area and pore analysis and Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM). Results shows that a blue shift phenomenon occurs between ZnO NPs and ZnO/Ag NPs while XRD analysis suggested that all samples exhibit hexagonal wurtzite structure. ZnO/Ag NPs portrayed a spherical and hexagonal surface morphology with average particles size of 25.68 nm and mesoporous structure. ZnO/Ag NPs shows the highest photodegradation of PCM with 96 % with five repeated cycles compared to pristine ZnO NPs. The main species responsible for PCM degradation via ZnO/Ag are hydroxyl radical and electron. The prepared BPE based ZnO/Ag has a high potential as advanced materials for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment.