CuCr2O4-polystyrene immobilized photocatalyst: Facile fabrication, characterization and enhanced photodegradation of cefixime under visible light

Abstract

In this work, a new efficient and low-cost photocatalyst (CuCr2O4-PS) was successfully synthesized by a low-temperature method in which macroscopic polystyrene beads (PS) were used to support the CuCr2O4 particles. The physical and chemical properties of the CuCr2O4-PS samples were analysed in detail by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM-EDX), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), nitrogen adsorption measurements for Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) specific surface area, and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS). These results indicate that the prepared nanoparticles were efficiently grafted onto the surface of the polystyrene beads. The photocatalytic performance of the prepared photocatalyst was explored through the elimination of cefixime (CFX) under visible light irradiation. According to the obtained experimental results, an abatement of 94% was achieved after 180 min of visible light irradiation. However, neat CuCr2O4 showed very low photocatalytic activity under the same conditions. Furthermore, the photocatalyst particles were efficiently separated from the treated solution even after several uses owing to the supported structure. Finally, low cost and easy recovery make CuCr2O4-PS a very promising catalyst in both small- and large-scale applications.