Synthesis of Selected Mixed Oxide Materials with Tailored Photocatalytic Activity in the Degradation of Tetracycline

Abstract

The elimination of antibiotics occurring in the natural environment has become a great challenge in recent years. Among other techniques, the photocatalytic degradation of this type of pollutant seems to be a promising approach. Thus, the search for new photoactive materials is currently of great importance. The present study concerns the sol–gel synthesis of mono, binary and ternary TiO2-based materials, which are used as active photocatalysts. The main goal was to evaluate how the addition of selected components—zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) and/or zinc oxide (ZnO)—during the synthesis of TiO2-based materials and the temperature of thermal treatment affect the materials’ physicochemical and photocatalytic properties. The fabricated mixed oxide materials underwent detailed physicochemical analysis, utilizing scanning-electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), low-temperature N2 sorption (BET model), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The synthesized mixed oxide materials were used as photocatalysts in the heterogeneous photodegradation of tetracycline (TC). The physicochemical properties of the fabricated photocatalysts, including morphology, crystalline and textural structure, as well as the pH of the reaction system in the photocatalytic tests, were taken into account in determining their photo-oxidation activity. LC–MS/MS analysis was used to identify the possible degradation products of the selected antibiotic.