Encapsulation of spinel CuCo2O4 hollow sphere in V2O5-decorated graphitic carbon nitride as high-efficiency double Z-type nanocomposite for levofloxacin photodegradation

In this study, spinel CuCo2O4 (CCO) with a hierarchical hollow sphere morphology was encapsulated in V2O5-decorated ultra-wrinkled graphitic carbon-nitride (VO-UCN) for the first time via a facile glycerol-assisted solvothermal method in the interest of developing a novel high-efficiency double Z-type nano-photocatalyst (denoted as VO-UCN@CCO). The remarkable physicochemical features of the as-prepared nano-photocatalysts were verified using diverse characterization techniques including TGA, XRD, FT-IR, FE-SEM, TEM, BET, UV-vis DRS, PL, EIS, and transient photocurrent techniques. Herein, VO-UCN@CCO nanocomposite was employed for the photodisintegration of levofloxacin (LVOF) antibiotic under visible-light irradiation and the impact of certain operative reaction system variables was explored in an effort to optimize the photocatalytic capability. The 40% loading of CCO in VO-UCN@CCO nanocomposite was found to display maximum photocatalytic performance (about 95%) for LVOF photodecomposition, which was 9.3, 6.6, and 13.8 times greater when compared with pristine VO, UCN, and CCO, respectively. A high capability was observed for as-prepared photocatalyst during reusability tests and near 90% degradation efficiency was obtained in the sixth run. The complete mineralization of LVOF was achieved by the VO-UCN@CCO photocatalyst process after 300 min of reaction. An excellent synergy factor towards the degradation of LVOF was obtained for VO-UCN@CCO compared to each of its components alone. This peculiar design is envisaged to provide new inspirations for ameliorating the photocatalytic decontamination of tenacious and non-biodegradable species present in real wastewater.