SCHEDULED MAINTENANCE
Photocatalytic degradation of the antibiotic levofloxacin using highly crystalline TiO2 nanoparticles†
Abstract
This paper reports the photocatalytic degradation of levofloxacin (LEVO), a widely used antibiotic drug, using highly crystalline TiO2 nanoparticles. The TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized using a sol–gel technique and characterized by various techniques in terms of their morphological, structural, compositional, thermal and optical properties. The detailed studies revealed that the prepared TiO2 nanoparticles are grown in high density, are highly crystalline and exhibit good optical properties. Over 90% photocatalytic degradation of LEVO was achieved by the prepared TiO2 nanoparticles in 120 min under UV light illumination. By comparing the photocatalytic degradation properties of the prepared TiO2 nanoparticles with a commercially available TiO2 catalyst (P25 and PC-50), it was observed that the as-synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles exhibited a superior photocatalytic performance towards LEVO. Moreover, the antibiotic efficacy of levofloxacin was tested against E. coli and interestingly, it was found that its antibacterial activity was drastically inhibited after the treatment of the drug solutions with the prepared photocatalyst.
Please wait while we load your content...
