The photocatalytic degradation of tylosin by a trimetallic ZnCrNi/GO–layered double hydroxide in the conformation of a clustered crumb sheet.

Industrial wastewater from drug production is one of the contributors to water pollution. For drug wastewater treatment, photodegradation-based chemical technology has gained more attention because of the drug's microbicidal nature and stability. A zinc-chromium-nickel trimetallic–layered double hydroxide compounding with graphene oxide catalyst (ZnCrNi/GO) was synthesized and exhibited a clustered crumb sheet morphology. The prepared catalyst was characterized by a scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with an energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometer (EDS), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results of material analysis established the crystallographic structures of catalysts and evidenced the successful synthesis. The ZnCrNi/GO nanohybrid revealed a higher activity of approximately 90% degradation of tolysin under high-pressure mercury lamp irradiation. The optimized condition of the catalyst dosage of 500 mg/L and the natural pH of the solution at 7.0 under the tylosin concentration of 10 mg/L with high photocatalytic efficiency was explored. In addition, the main reactive species involved in this photocatalysis degradation were explored as the active cavity h+ and ·O²⁻ to a certain extent by the radical trapping experiments. Reuse experiments have shown that as-prepared catalysts possessed the properties of high efficiency and long-lasting catalytic performance, which could meet pharmaceutical wastewater treatment. A three-metal–layered double hydroxide composed by the metal of Ni, Zn, and Cr was synthesized and attached onto graphene oxide. The catalytic materials obtained in this way have a significant catalysis efficiency to tylosin with the likely degradation mechanism of the active cavity h⁺ and the oxidative capacity of hydroxyl radials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]