Photocatalytic Degradation of Cefixime Trihydrate by Bismuth Ferrite Nanoparticles.

Shoomaila Latif,Farah Kanwal,Mohammad Rafe Hatshan,Muhammad Imran,Mufsir Kuniyil,Syed Farooq Adil,Ammara Nazir,Baji Shaik

doi:10.3390/ma15010213

Abstract

The present work was carried out to synthesize bismuth ferrite (BFO) nanoparticles by combustion synthesis, and to evaluate the photocatalytic activity of synthesized bismuth ferrite nanoparticles against cefixime trihydrate. BFO nanoparticles were successfully synthesized using bismuth (III) nitrate and iron (III) nitrate by a combustion synthesis method employing different types of fuels such as maltose, succinic acid, cinnamic acid, and lactose. The effects of the different types of fuels on the morphology and size of the bismuth ferrite nanoparticles were investigated. Characterization of the as-obtained bismuth ferrite nanoparticles was carried out by different techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy-Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), N2-sorption analysis, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and ultraviolet-visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy. Photoluminescence studies were also carried out for the various bismuth ferrite nanoparticles obtained. Degradation of cefixime trihydrate was investigated under sunlight to evaluate the photocatalytic properties of the bismuth ferrite nanoparticles, and it was found that the bismuth ferrite nanoparticles followed first-order degradation kinetics in solar irradiation in the degradation of antibiotic, cefixime trihydrate.

Highlights

Production of antibiotics takes place in large quantities due to their wide use in the treatment of humans and animals for various bacterial and fungal infections [1,2,3]
Bismuth ferrite (BFO) nanoparticles were prepared through combustion synthesis, using different types of organic substances such as maltose, lactose, cinnamic acid, and succinic acid as fuel, and the resulting products were labeled as BFO-M, BFO-L, BFO-C, and BFO-S, respectively
The reduced intensities of peaks corresponding to oxide impurities other than BFO nanoparticles were evidenced with the use of lactose, and completely absent with maltose fuel

Summary

Introduction

Production of antibiotics takes place in large quantities due to their wide use in the treatment of humans and animals for various bacterial and fungal infections [1,2,3]. The enhanced use of antibiotics in aquaculture farming for the prevention of diseases in aquaculture products, especially fish, ends with human consumption, which leads to the unnecessary presence of antibiotics in the human body. This has several harmful impacts, especially multiple drug resistance (MDR) in a variety of microbial infections [7,8]. It is extremely important to eliminate the presence of antibiotics in water bodies In this regard, several nanomaterials have been reported for the photocatalytic degradation of pollutants, including antibiotics [9,10,11]. Metal oxide nanoparticles such as ZnO have been employed for the degradation of metronidazole, an antibiotic, and yielded a 98.4% removal of the antibiotic and followed pseudo-first-order degradation kinetics [12]

Methods

Results

Conclusion