Photocatalytic degradation of ciprofloxacin antibiotic by TiO2 nanoparticles immobilized on a glass plate

This research investigated the photocatalytic degradation of ciprofloxacin by titanium dioxide nanoparticles immobilized on a glass plate in an aqueous solution. The important point about this process is immobilization on glass plate, which resolves difficulties related to separation of catalysts from the solution in the application of sole nanoparticles as well as reusability of nanoparticles. Application of nanoparticles without immobilization on a support medium causes toxic effects in aqueous solutions, which was fixed through immobilization on a glass plate in this study. In this research, 1 gL−1 of TiO2 was immobilized on a glass plate. XRD and SEM indicated that the TiO2 immobilized on the glass plate was highly pure and uniform in size (39.2–74.9 nm). The maximum ciprofloxacin removal efficiency from the synthetic aqueous solution was obtained at the optimal pH of 5, contact time of 105 min, and ciprofloxacin initial concentration of 3 mgL−1. The extent of ciprofloxacin removed under optimal conditions was obtained as 92.81% and 86.57% from the synthetic and real samples, respectively. Evaluation of linear models of kinetics and adsorption isotherms indicated that the data followed pseudo-first-order kinetics as well as Langmuir–Hinshelwood and Freundlich isotherms. Thermodynamic studies revealed that the adsorption of ciprofloxacin on TiO2 nanoparticles immobilized on glass plate is an endothermic and physical process. Considering the high efficiency of this process under real conditions, it can be used for the removal of resistant pollutants from industrial wastewater.