Carbon nanostructures in enhancing ranitidine drug degradation by zinc hexacyanoferrate

Abstract

Here we describe the synthesis and characterization of zinc hexacyanoferrate (ZnHCF) and their respective composites, zinc hexacyanoferrate/graphene oxide (ZnHCF/GO) and zinc hexacyanoferrate/carbon nanotubes (ZnHCF/CNT) aiming the application of these materials as photocatalysts in the degradation of ranitidine. The results showed that all samples have the same rhombohedral crystal structure indexed to the ZnII3[FeIII(CN)6]2 formula, containing ZnHCF microparticles of ∼2.0 µm, which decrease in size in the presence of carbon nanomaterials. The pH value and mass of the catalysts during the degradation of the ranitidine were evaluated using a triplicate central point factorial design 22. The best experimental condition obtained for pure ZnHCF led to a degradation of 73% of ranitidine, applying 5.0 mg and pH= 6.0. However, for ZnHCF/GO and ZnHCF/CNT nanocomposites results superior than 90% of degradation for the drug was achivied. The excellent degradation results may originate from the high surface area presented by ZnHCF (896 m2 g−1) and the respective ZnHCF/GO (692 m2 g−1) and ZnHCF/CNT (473 m2 g−1) nanocomposites, high adsorption capacity of the carbon materials and also to an increase of the electronic transfer rate, with consequent enhancing of the redox process and higher efficiency in the electron/hole pair separation.