Construction of p-n-p nano heterojunction through coupling La2O3, (BiO)2CO3 and Ag3PO4 for effective photocatalytic degradation of doxycycline: Insights into mechanism, pathway and intermediate toxicity evaluation

Abstract

The present work is centred around the development of La2O3/(BiO)2CO3/Ag3PO4 (LBA), a p-n-p nano-heterojunction to photodegrade doxycycline under visible light irradiation. Here, ultrasonication assisted co-precipitation method was employed to synthesize the photocatalyst. The photocatalyst was characterized using different analysis such as SEM, TEM, elemental mapping, XRD, XPS, FTIR, Raman, BET, DRS, PL and EIS which confirmed the successful fabrication of LBA and their excellent ability to refrain the e−/h+ recombination owing to the construction of the heterojunction. LBA was found to degrade DOX by 91.75 % with the high mineralization of 87.23%. The impact of the reaction parameters influencing the photodegradation process including the concentration of the NCs and DOX, pH and the influence of the commonly present anions were studied. The stability and reusability of the LBA was assessed through subjecting it to four cycles of photodegradation of DOX. In addition, the recovered LBA was characterized through XPS and XRD analysis to confirm the particles stability and reusability. The active participation of the photogenerated charges and the reactive oxygen species were identified through the scavenging assay and ESR analysis. Further, GC-MS/MS analysis was performed to put forward a plausible photodegradation pathway. The toxicity of the end products as well as the intermediates was predicted through ECOSAR software.