Fabrication Condition-Dependent Photocatalytic Ciprofloxacin (CIP) Antibiotic Degradation of NaTiOx-Derived Brookite TiO2 Nanorods

Remediation of antibiotics by photocatalysis technique has been regarded as a promising route to tackle with the environmental pollution affecting human survival and development. In this work, brookite TiO₂ nanorods with different oxygen vacancy have been synthesized through tailoring the volume of ethylene glycol by hydrothermally treatment with NaTiOx-nanoassembly. After constitute and morphology confirmation with different characterizations, their photocatalytic performances are evaluated via ciprofloxacin (CIP) antibiotic degradation experiments. The result shows that the TiO₂-0 has the highest photocatalytic efficiency towards CIP degradation, comparing with TiO₂-15 and TiO₂-30 samples. Although the TiO₂-30 has high concentration oxygen vacancy, it exhibits excellent adsorption ability in the dark, rather than CIP degradation rate. The photo/electrochemical tests suggest the photo-generated electron lifetime, charge transfer ability, and the effective active sites on the material’s surface are inversely proportional to the concentration of oxygen vacancies. It also concludes that rational fabrication conditions tailoring of the photocatalyst could optimize the corresponding capability in the antibiotic degradation process. In addition, the possible degradation pathway is also proposed based on the high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS), and the acute toxicity changes in the degradation process are also predicted.

Graphical Abstract