ZnS on Cu₂Te quantum dots: preparation, characterisation, and optimisation of photocatalytic/H₂O₂ process by response surface methodology

ABSTRACT

Fluoroquinolone antibiotic is used extensively and, is obtained to reasoninfluences neurologically on living microorganisms. In the present study, the photocatalyst/H₂O₂underUV light photo-degradation of Enrofloxacin was studied. In addition to that, ZnS on Cu₂Tequantum dots was gathered via a simple synthesis method. The ZnS/Cu₂Tenanocomposites were characterizedby dynamic light scattering, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and UV-vis spectroscopytothe evaluation of theoptical, and morphological properties.The Box-Behnken design method was used for Experiments optimizationusing response surface methodology (RSM). Several factors like ZnS/Cu₂Teconcentration, H₂O₂concentration, and initial pH on the optimisation ofEnrofloxacinphoto-degradation were evaluatedwiththe polynomial regression method. At optimum process factors (ZnS/Cu₂Te: 50 mg/L, H₂O₂: 100 mg/L, and pH: 6), the Enrofloxacinphoto-degradation was achieved 84.58% during 40 min as process time.The photo-degradationanalyzed for severaldecompositionprocesseslike as, H₂O₂, UV/H₂O₂, UV+ZnS/Cu₂Te, and UV+ZnS/Cu₂Te+H₂O₂ were carried out at the optimum factors. In this study,the Statistical evaluation was carried out for the optimisation of photo-degradation processes for the removalof pharmaceutical wastewater.

KEYWORDS:

• Photodegradation
• ZnS
• response surface methodology
• Cu₂Te
• UV light

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the support of this research by the Payame Noor University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).