Recycling of Expired Ceftamil Drug as Additive in the Copper and Nickel Electrodeposition from Acid Baths.

Delia-Andrada Duca,Nicolae Vaszilcsin,Mircea Laurențiu Dan

doi:10.3390/ijerph18189476

Delia-Andrada Duca, Nicolae Vaszilcsin + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18189476

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Abstract

Due to the large quantity of expired and unused drugs worldwide, pharmaceutical disposal has become a serious problem that requires increased attention. In the present paper, the study on recycling ceftazidime (CZ) as an additive in copper and nickel electrodeposition from acid baths is highlighted. CZ is the active substance from expired commercial drug Ceftamil®. Its electrochemical behavior was studied by cyclic voltammetry. As well, kinetic parameters for copper and nickel electrodeposition were determined using Tafel plots method at different temperatures and CZ concentrations in these acid baths. The activation energy was calculated from Arrhenius plots. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was used to investigate the charge transfer resistance and coverage degree in the electrolyte solutions at several potential values. Gibbs free energy values, calculated from Langmuir adsorption isotherms, revealed the chemical nature of CZ–electrode surface interactions. The favorable effect of the organic molecules added in copper and nickel electroplating baths was emphasized by optical microscope images. The morphology of the obtained deposits without and with 10−4 mol L−1 CZ was compared. The experimental results revealed that expired Ceftamil® is suitable as additive in copper and nickel electroplating processes from acid baths.

Highlights

Every year, a great amount of pharmaceutical products expires around the world, making them unusable for the treatment of patients or other medical purposes [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
Studies on the possibility to use CZ as additive in copper and nickel electrodeposition started with its electrochemical behavior, characterized by cyclic voltammetry recorded on platinum electrode in 0.5 mol L−1 H2 SO4 and BS, in a wide potential range
Concerning the nature of acids and their concentrations, as well as the pH, both of the electrolyte solutions used are similar with those used at industrial level in galvanotechnics: 0.5 mol L−1 H2 SO4 for copper electrodeposition from acid baths, respectively

Summary

Introduction

A great amount of pharmaceutical products expires around the world, making them unusable for the treatment of patients or other medical purposes [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. Certain products from a large number of drugs contain only active substances, without excipients. These are usually organic molecules with a complex chemical structure and large molecular area, which can find other utilities in various electrochemical processes, like levelling or brightening agents in galvanotechnics [20,21,22], anodes for lithium-ion batteries [23], as well as corrosion inhibitors for metals in different aggressive media [24,25,26]. Additives are very important due to their influence on physical and mechanical properties of the deposited metallic layer. They act by adsorption onto the metal surface, inhibiting the electrodeposition process, reducing the grain size of the metallic deposit [30,31,32]

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