Photocatalytic Removal of Antibiotics from Wastewater Using the CeO2/ZnO Heterojunction

Abstract

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.