Photocatalytic Removal of Antibiotics from Wastewater Using the CeO<sub>2</sub>/ZnO Heterojunction
Nicolae Apostolescu,
Ramona Elena Tataru Farmus,
Maria Harja,
Mihaela Aurelia Vizitiu,
Corina Cernatescu,
Claudia Cobzaru,
Gabriela Antoaneta Apostolescu
Affiliations
Nicolae Apostolescu
Department of Chemical Engineering, “Cristofor Simionescu” Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Protection, “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, 73, Prof.dr.doc. Dimitrie Mangeron Avenue, 700050 Iasi, Romania
Ramona Elena Tataru Farmus
Department of Chemical Engineering, “Cristofor Simionescu” Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Protection, “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, 73, Prof.dr.doc. Dimitrie Mangeron Avenue, 700050 Iasi, Romania
Maria Harja
Department of Chemical Engineering, “Cristofor Simionescu” Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Protection, “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, 73, Prof.dr.doc. Dimitrie Mangeron Avenue, 700050 Iasi, Romania
Mihaela Aurelia Vizitiu
Department of Chemical Engineering, “Cristofor Simionescu” Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Protection, “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, 73, Prof.dr.doc. Dimitrie Mangeron Avenue, 700050 Iasi, Romania
Corina Cernatescu
Department of Chemical Engineering, “Cristofor Simionescu” Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Protection, “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, 73, Prof.dr.doc. Dimitrie Mangeron Avenue, 700050 Iasi, Romania
Claudia Cobzaru
Department of Chemical Engineering, “Cristofor Simionescu” Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Protection, “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, 73, Prof.dr.doc. Dimitrie Mangeron Avenue, 700050 Iasi, Romania
Gabriela Antoaneta Apostolescu
Department of Chemical Engineering, “Cristofor Simionescu” Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Environmental Protection, “Gheorghe Asachi” Technical University of Iasi, 73, Prof.dr.doc. Dimitrie Mangeron Avenue, 700050 Iasi, Romania
CeO2/ZnO-based photocatalytic materials were synthesized by the sol-gel method in order to establish heterojunctions that increase the degradation efficiency of some types of antibiotics by preventing the recombination of electron–hole pairs. The synthesized materials were analysed by XRD, SEM, EDAX, FTIR, and UV-Vis. After several tests, the optimal concentration of the catalyst was determined to be 0.05 g‧L−1 and 0.025 g‧L−1 for chlortetracycline and 0.05 g‧L−1 for ceftriaxone. CeO2/ZnO assemblies showed much better degradation efficiency compared to ZnO or CeO2 tested individually. Sample S3 shows good photocatalytic properties for the elimination of ceftriaxone and tetracycline both from single solutions and from the binary solution. This work provides a different perspective to identify other powerful and inexpensive photocatalysts for wastewater treatment.
