Photocatalytic degradation of ciprofloxacin in the presence of synthesized ZnO nanocatalyst: The effect of operational parameters

This study was aimed at investigating the photocatalytic degradation of ciprofloxacin (CIP) antibiotic in aqueous solution using immobilized ZnO nanoparticles on glass plate. X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy were applied to characterize the nanoparticles. To do so, the ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized through the chemical precipitation method and were immobilized on a glass plate. The degradation of CIP was under UV-C light irradiation. The effects of operational parameters (initial concentration of CIP, pH, and light intensity) on the activity of synthesized ZnO photocatalyst and the kinetics of reaction were investigated. With the initial concentration of 10 mg L-1 of CIP, pH = 6.8 and light intensity = 42 W m-2, the photodegradation efficiency was found to be 69.5%. The results showed that the reaction followed a pseudo-first-order kinetic. The results of the mineralization studies also represented a decreasing trend of total organic carbon over time.