Superficial visible-light-responsive Pt@ZnO nanorods photocatalysts for effective remediation of ciprofloxacin in water

Fabrication of mesoporous ZnO nanorods photocatalysts exploiting a facile one-pot regime of zinc methoxide and F127 triblock copolymer as a surfactant was conducted. The impact of decoration with platinum on the photocatalytic efficacy, crystallinity, morphology, and physical aspects of mesoporous Pt@ZnO nanorods accommodating various proportions of Pt was interrogated. TEM micrographs affirmed that the fabricated mesoporous ZnO nanorods displayed nanorods architecture and platinum was doped on the surface of mesoporous ZnO nanorods as dots. The measured lattice spacing of the (002) plane of ZnO was found to be about 0.270 nm, affirming the development of the ZnO lattice architecture. On the other hand, the consistent lattice spacing of the (111) plane of Pt was 0.220 nm, endorsing the progression of the metallic platinum lattice architecture. Evidently, the surface area possessed by the fabricated mesoporous ZnO nanorods was 200 m(2)/g; up to our knowledge, this large surface area wasn't attained previously. Furthermore, the average pore diameter and the total pore volume possessed by the fabricated mesoporous ZnO nanorods photocatalyst were 6.90 nm and 0.140 cm(3)/g, respectively. Ciprofloxacin (CIP) was photocatalytically degraded adopting mesoporous ZnO nanorods photocatalyst with a performance of 10%, whereas the photocatalytic performance toward CIP destruction was enhanced up to 100% upon doping ZnO nanorods photocatalyst with 0.6 wt.% Pt. Also, doping of the mesoporous ZnO nanorods photocatalyst with 0.6 wt.% Pt enhanced the photocatalytic degradation rate by 14 times compared with that of mesoporous ZnO nanorods photocatalyst. This conclusion could be attributed to the development of a high concentration of hydroxyl radicals, the accelerated dissipation of ciprofloxacin molecules to the active centers of the developed photocatalyst in addition to the reduced light scattering owing to the large surface area and high pore volume of the photocatalyst.