Boosting ciprofloxacin and indigo carmine dye photodegradation using S-scheme plate-like BiOI@sulfated TiO2 heterojunctions: An understanding of the performance, the degradation route, and DFT computation

Abstract

Sustainable BiOI/sulfated TiO2 nanocomposites were created for the present study utilizing the environmentally friendly dispersion-ultrasonication technique. Then, their ability to degrade the medication ciprofloxacin (CIP) and indigo carmine coloring (IC) in aquatic water was evaluated. The optimized catalyst 10%BiOI/ST, denoted as 10BOST together with 5BOST, is subjected to thorough characterization together with that of sulfate-free TiO2 (10BOT) to assess their physiochemical, morphological, textural, structural, and elemental composition properties. It is noteworthy that the 10BOST composite achieves remarkable degradation and performs exceptionally well in photocatalytic IC and CIP degradation. In 35 min, it degrades IC to 100%, with a rate constant of 0.066 min−1, which is superior to that of 10BOT (0.054 min−1) in the incidence of visible light and without an oxidizing agent. In CIP, 10BOST yields 85.6% degradation with a rate constant of 0.027 min−1 preceding 0.024 min−1 for 10BOT when potassium persulfate oxidizing agent is present. This exceptional performance is ascribed to the composite's diminished particle diameter, largest pore radius, hydrophilicity, improved light absorption, and the developed heterojunction between ST and BiOI, as demonstrated by XPS, TEM, XRD, EDX and IR data. The effect of sulfation concentration, pH, Ti3+/Ti4+ ratio, and pollutant concentration were studied together with the active species determinations, which revealed that active radicals like SO4•−, •OH, and h+ were well participated in the pollutant's decomposition. Testing for toxicity shows that during CIP breakdown, innocuous hazardous intermediates evolve with a notable 70% mineralization rate in their TOC. Furthermore, 10BOST showed strong stability and reusability. Using DFT simulations, profound insights into the principles underlying the adsorption sites of pollutants, their chemical reactivity, and the arrangement of their electrical charges, and how these factors affect the reaction mechanism on BOST photocatalysts.