Photocatalytic Degradation of Toxic Phenolic Compound and Bacterial Inactivation by Ternary Li doped Zn _0.5 Ni _0.5 Fe ₂ O ₄

Abstract

Abstract Conventional methods are inefficient to treat water contaminated with persistent organic contaminants. To decontaminate bacteria and 2,4,5‐trichlorophenol (TCP) contaminated water, a heterogeneous photocatalysis‐based advanced oxidation process was applied in this study. A Li‐doped ternary Zn 0.5 Ni 0.5 Fe 2 O 4 (ZNF) photocatalyst (Li/ZNF) was synthesized via a facile co‐precipitation technique and characterized. The Li/ZNF has a sufficient specific surface area (69.8 m 2 .g −1 ), and an appropriate bandgap of 2.89 eV. Under optimal conditions, 10 mg of Li/ZNF photocatalyst degraded 80 % of 50 mg L −1 TCP in 6 h at pH 3 in the presence of 4 mM H 2 O 2 . After use, the Li/ZNF photocatalyst was magnetically separated and reused numerous times, with an efficiency of 66 % after the fifth reuse cycle. In the antibacterial time‐kill assay, 15 and 25 mg of Li/ZNF inhibited 1×10 7 CFU.mL −1 of S. Aureus and E. coli bacteria after 60 min of UV exposure, respectively.