Abstract
Because of its long-term high toxicity, the anarchic dispersion of amoxicillin antibiotic in the water supply system must be controlled. Titanium dioxide is the most used because of its high photocatalytic activity but its removal and regeneration is a major disadvantage. To resolve this matter, we have developed photocatalysts based on TiO2 associated with layered double hydroxide materials for the degradation of amoxicillin under UVA radiation. TiO2/LDH composite materials were synthesized by direct co-precipitation method at constant pH and characterized by conventional analytical techniques including XRD, TEM, and UV–vis DRS. The supported catalyst TiO2/Mg-Fe-LDH exhibits an excellent photodegradation efficiency, compared to TiO2/Mg-Al-LDH. The highest degradation of AMX was noted in alkaline conditions. The recyclability was as possible and the majority of the starting quantity of materials was retained after four cycles of photodegradation. A photodegradation mechanism was proposed.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.