enhancement photocatalytic activity of tio2 toward tetracycline under visible light via agbr nanoparticles and ceria nanocubes

Emerging organic pollutants (eops) in the aquatic environment have been a global concern recently. these compounds include pharmaceuticals, pesticides, and personal care offerings. synthesizing a high-efficiency solar-activated photocatalyst is a unique approach to utilizing green, inexhaustible solar energy to eliminate emerging organic pollutants. the current study was conducted on synthesizing visible-light-driven tio2-based photocatalysts used for pharmaceutical wastewater treatment. tio2/agbr and the core-shell structure of ceo2 nanocube@tio2/agbr were synthesized via the sol-gel method to improve the photoactivity of tio2 under visible light. core-shell structures in photocatalysts offer improved efficiency due to their unique features: a light-absorbing core efficiently captures photons, while a shell layer promotes charge separation and surface reactivity, improving photocatalytic performance. ceo2 has unique characteristics, including the high activity of redox couple ce4+-ce3+, visible light absorption, and oxygen vacancy generation. hence, ceo2 coupled to tio2 has appeared as an upgrade to separate photogenerated charges, changing the light absorption range. agbr, with high visible light response, has been considered a fantastic photocatalyst. however, agbr is rarely utilized as a catalyst because of its poor light absorption capacity and quick recombination of photogenerated electron-hole pairs. the surface morphology, crystal plane, and textural properties of the prepared samples were examined via powder x-ray diffraction (pxrd), scanning electron microscopy (sem), energy dispersive analysis of x-ray (edax), elemental mapping, and nitrogen physisorption (according to bet isotherm) techniques. the pxrd patterns affirmed the pure anatase phase of the obtained tio2 nanoparticles and additionally showed that all diffractions of the tio2/agbr and core-shell structure of ceo2 nanocube@tio2/agbr can be confirmed that the relevant systems have been formed successfully. the fesem images demonstrated the core-shell structure for ceo2 nanocube@tio2/agbr. the edax patterns showed the existence of ti, o, ag, ce, and br atoms in each sample. the n2 physisorption analysis showed an h3-type hysteresis loop and type v isotherm for the synthesized samples and confirmed the mesopore characteristic of the samples. the synthesized photocatalysts were utilized to degrade tetracycline (tc) (in a concentration of 30 mg/l) as a pharmaceutical pollutant under visible light. the photocatalytic performance of pure tio2, tio2/agbr, and ceo2 nanocube@tio2/agbr were 17.01%, 47.53%, and 74.81%, respectively, after 180 minutes under visible light irradiation. the highest photocatalytic performance among the synthesized samples affiliated to ceo2 nanocube@tio2/agbr, which might be attributed to the synergetic effects, such as improved visible light absorption, narrowed bandgap, and advantageous separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs via agbr nanoparticles and ceria nanocubes.