Enhanced visible-light photodegradation of fluoroquinolone-based antibiotics andE. coligrowth inhibition using Ag-TiO2nanoparticles

Wang J, Svoboda L, Nemeckova Z, Sgarzi M, Henych J, Licciardello N, Cuniberti G (2021)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

RSC Advances Royal Society of Chemistry

Book Volume: 11

Pages Range: 13980-13991

Journal Issue: 23

DOI: 10.1039/d0ra10403e

Abstract

Antibiotics in wastewater represent a growing and worrying menace for environmental and human health fostering the spread of antimicrobial resistance. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is a well-studied and well-performing photocatalyst for wastewater treatment. However, it presents drawbacks linked with the high energy needed for its activation and the fast electron-hole pair recombination. In this work, TiO2nanoparticles were decorated with Ag nanoparticles by a facile photochemical reduction method to obtain an increased photocatalytic response under visible light. Although similar materials have been reported, we advanced this field by performing a study of the photocatalytic mechanism for Ag-TiO2nanoparticles (Ag-TiO2NPs) under visible light taking in consideration also the rutile phase of the TiO2nanoparticles. Moreover, we examined the Ag-TiO2NPs photocatalytic performance against two antibiotics from the same family. The obtained Ag-TiO2NPs were fully characterised. The results showed that Ag NPs (average size: 23.9 ± 18.3 nm) were homogeneously dispersed on the TiO2surface and the photo-response of the Ag-TiO2NPs was greatly enhanced in the visible light region when compared to TiO2P25. Hence, the obtained Ag-TiO2NPs showed excellent photocatalytic degradation efficiency towards the two fluoroquinolone-based antibiotics ciprofloxacin (92%) and norfloxacin (94%) after 240 min of visible light irradiation, demonstrating a possible application of these particles in wastewater treatment. In addition, it was also proved that, after five Ag-TiO2NPs re-utilisations in consecutive ciprofloxacin photodegradation reactions, only a photocatalytic efficiency drop of 8% was observed. Scavengers experiments demonstrated that the photocatalytic mechanism of ciprofloxacin degradation in the presence of Ag-TiO2NPs is mainly driven by holes and ˙OH radicals, and that the rutile phase in the system plays a crucial role. Finally, Ag-TiO2NPs showed also antibacterial activity towardsEscherichia coli(E. coli) opening the avenue for a possible use of this material in hospital wastewater treatment.

Involved external institutions

Technische Universität Dresden DE Germany (DE) Technical University of Ostrava / Vysoká škola báňská - Technická univerzita Ostrava CZ Czech Republic (CZ) Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (ASCR) / Akademie věd České republiky (AVČR) CZ Czech Republic (CZ)

How to cite

APA:

Wang, J., Svoboda, L., Nemeckova, Z., Sgarzi, M., Henych, J., Licciardello, N., & Cuniberti, G. (2021). Enhanced visible-light photodegradation of fluoroquinolone-based antibiotics andE. coligrowth inhibition using Ag-TiO2nanoparticles. RSC Advances, 11(23), 13980-13991. https://doi.org/10.1039/d0ra10403e

MLA:

Wang, Jiao, et al. "Enhanced visible-light photodegradation of fluoroquinolone-based antibiotics andE. coligrowth inhibition using Ag-TiO2nanoparticles." RSC Advances 11.23 (2021): 13980-13991.

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