Sonocatalytic, sonophotocatalytic and photocatalytic degradation of morphine using molybdenum trioxide and molybdenum disulfide nanoparticles photocatalyst

Abstract

Molybdenum trioxide (MoO3) and molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) nanoparticles were synthesized using simple and facile techniques, i.e. hydrothermal and co-precipitation method, respectively. The synthesized nanoparticles were nicely characterized using various investigative techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) for analysing the structural, textural, topological and photocatalytic properties. The effective parameters, i.e. contact time, pH and rate of degradation, were well investigated and elucidated. From the optimized data, it is clear that the high quantity adsorption and degradation of morphine onto the MoO3 and MoS2 nanoparticles at 30min, and the %age removal of morphine onto the developed adsorbents, i.e. MoO3 and MoS2, increases quickly with the increase in the adsorbent dose up to 20mg/L, and is later on followed by the sluggish augmentation with an increase in the adsorbent dose up to 25g/L. The maximum %age degradation of morphine using MoO3 and MoS2 was approximately 95% and 98%, respectively. Hence, synthesized MoO3 and MoS2 nanoparticles show strong photocatalytic efficiency with cooperation between visible or UV light and ultrasonic irradiation for the degradation reaction, whereas photolytic and sonophotocatalytic degradation processes were found to operate independently.