Removal of Levofloxacin by Copper Doped Bismuth Oxide Thin Films under UV Light Irradiation

Pharmaceutical wastewater, including antibiotics, is being increasingly detected in the environment as a form of micropollutant. Researchers have progressively concentrated on integrating the advanced oxidation process (AOPs) with photocatalysts such as bismuth oxide (Bi2O3) to degrade antibiotics. The study involved the effective synthesis of pure Bi2O3 and Copper doped Bi2O3 (CBO) thin films using the sol-gel process. These thin films were then coated using the spray coating technique, and studied for their ability to degrade levofloxacin (LFX). The characterization including UV-Vis and XRD were used to analysed the properties of all synthesized thin films. 3% CBO thin films have the good quality compared with other thin films with the lowest energy band gap is 2.54 eV and crystallite size are 28.1938 nm. The degradation efficiency of 3% CBO thin films using photocatalysis is 85.95%. The degradation kinetic rate value is 0.00637 min-1 for pseudo-first-order kinetics and 0.00676 min-1 for pseudo-second-order kinetics. The reusability of CBO thin films was also evaluated to determine the sustainability of the thin films.