Photocatalytic degradation of amoxicillin and tetracycline by template synthesized nano-structured Ce 3+ @TiO 2 thin film catalyst.

Contamination of the aquatic environment with pharmaceutical compounds is a serious environmental concern. The present investigation aims to utilize the Ce ³⁺ /TiO ₂ thin film catalyst to remove of potential antibiotics (amoxicillin and tetracycline) using the less harmful UV-A radiations. Reduced cerium ion-doped TiO ₂ is obtained by a simple one-step facile template method using polyethylene glycol as the templating agent. The synthesized catalysts Ce ³⁺ @TiO ₂ (non-template) and Ce ³⁺ @TiO ₂ (T) (template) were characterized by spectroscopic methods. The XPS reaffirms the reduced Ce ³⁺ dispersed within the titania network, and the AFM showed the surface roughness of the thin films. Detailed physicochemical analyses were conducted to deduce the degradation mechanism, and repeated use of the thin film photocatalyst showed enhanced stability. Significant mineralization of the antibiotics indicates the potential applicability of the photocatalytic catalyst. Furthermore, the presence of Ce ³⁺ significantly restricted the recombination of electron/hole pairs in the photo-excited TiO ₂ semiconductor and showed enhanced photocatalytic degradation of the antibiotics proceeded predominantly through the •OH.
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