Phase pure synthesis of lanthanum doped bismuth ferrite nanostructures for the adsorption of doxorubicin

Abstract

The improper disposal of pharmaceutical effluents, hospital sewage, wastes, and domestic drugs are the typical sources of emerging organic contamination (EOC). The untreated doxorubicin (DOX) effluent being released into the environment has harmful influence on human health. In this study, the lanthanum substituted bismuth ferrite nanoparticles with pure rhombohedral phase were prepared via facile co-precipitation technique, wherein the influence of La3+ ion substitution on structural, optical, and electrical properties of BiFeO3 (BFO) nanoparticles was investigated. Lanthanum content increment did not widely impact the structural properties but a systematic decrease in bandgap with increasing concentration of La3+ ion content was observed. DOX was treated with Bi1−xLaxFeO3 to investigate adsorption activity, where the kinetic modelling of isotherms and intraparticle diffusion showed that the adsorption of DOX followed the multi-layered heterogeneous adsorption mechanism. The BFO nanoparticles exhibited the highest adsorption efficiency of about 93% for DOX in the aqueous solution. The electrostatic interaction between DOX and BFO nanoparticles along with substantial diffusion at porous sites was the probable degradation mechanism of DOX. To assess the reusability merit, BFO were reused up to 4 times as an absorbent for DOX adsorption. Phase pure BFO can efficiently remove the DOX from aqueous medium and provide a cost-effective and eco-friendly solution to deal with EOC of water.