Visible-light driven excellent photocatalytic degradation of ofloxacin antibiotic using BiFeO3 nanoparticles

The extensive exploration of multiferroic materials for degradation of contaminants and environmental remediation is promptly strengthened because of their distinct applications. BiFeO3, a prominent class of multiferroics, have received immense attention in recent times. Present study reports the synthesis of a highly crystalline BiFeO3 via facile combustion method. The prepared catalyst was characterized using different techniques like XRD, FTIR, FESEM, EDS, XPS, DRS and PL. From DRS results, the energy band gap of BiFeO3 was computed as 2.1 eV which was suitable enough for its exploration as a visible light photocatalyst. Therefore, BiFeO3 was efficiently utilized for the degradation of ofloxacin drug under the exposure of visible light. The obtained results depicted 80% ofloxacin degradation under optimized conditions (pH 8, 0.5 g/L catalyst dose and 10 mg/L drug concentration) in 180 min. Pseudo first order kinetics was followed with rate constant 0.0097 min-1, as inferred from the kinetic studies. Furthermore, 64% TOC reduction was attained by utilizing the prepared catalyst under optimum conditions. Additionally, the photocatalytic experiments showed excellent degradation efficiency even after five cycles which demonstrated good stability of the fabricated catalyst.

Automated summary

A highly crystalline BiFeO3 catalyst was synthesized through a facile combustion method and effectively used for the degradation of ofloxacin drug under visible light exposure. The optimized conditions resulted in 80% degradation of the drug in 180 minutes and a 64% reduction in TOC. The photocatalytic experiments also demonstrated the good stability of the fabricated catalyst even after five cycles.