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The aim of this work was to synthesize semiconducting oxide nanoparticles using a simple method with low production cost to be applied in natural sunlight for photocatalytic degradation of pollutants in waste water. Iron titanate (Fe 2 TiO 5 ) nanoparticles with an orthorhombic structure were successfully synthesized using a modified sol–gel method and calcination at 750°C. The as-prepared Fe 2 TiO 5 nanoparticles exhibited a moderate specific surface area. The mesoporous Fe 2 TiO 5 nanoparticles possessed strong absorption in the visible-light region and the band gap was estimated to be around 2.16 eV. The photocatalytic activity was evaluated by the degradation of methylene blue under natural sunlight. The effect of parameters such as the amount of catalyst, initial concentration of the dye and pH of the dye solution on the removal efficiency of methylene blue was investigated. Fe 2 TiO 5 showed high degradation efficiency in a strong alkaline medium that can be the result of the facilitated formation of OH radicals due to an increased concentration of hydroxyl ions.

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In this study, for the first time, the supercritical solvent impregnation (SSI) technique has been used to test the incorporation of thymol into starch gels. Corn and tapioca starch hydrogels prepared at different temperatures (70–100°C) were converted to the acetogels and subsequently dried with supercritical CO2 or air to obtain aero‐ or xerogels, respectively. Starch xero‐ and aerogels were impregnated with thymol in a high pressure view cell using supercritical CO2 at 15.5 MPa and 35°C during 24 h. The influence of the botanical origin of starch, temperature for hydrogels preparation (Tgel‐h) and drying method on the gel morphology and thymol impregnation yields was discussed. Determined thymol SSI yields were in the range of 1.15–4.02% for the corn and 0.58–3.63% for the tapioca starch gels. Xerogels had higher thymol loading capacities (1.76–4.02%) than aerogels (0.58–3.31%) at given SSI conditions. Gel morphology and thymol SSI yields were positively affected by the Tgel‐h increase. The xerogel obtained from the corn starch hydrogel prepared at 100°C had the largest specific surface area (5.52 m2/g) and thymol loading capacity (4.02%) at given SSI conditions. These results, along with a simple and low‐cost production, indicated the great potential of the corn starch xerogel for commercial use as a carrier in pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals.

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In this paper, pristine and chemically treated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were employed as solid-phase extraction sorbents for the isolation and enrichment of multi-class pharmaceuticals from the surface water and groundwater, prior to liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis. Thirteen pharmaceuticals that belong to different therapeutical classes (erythromycin, azithromycin, sulfamethoxazole, diazepam, lorazepam, carbamazepine, metoprolol, bisoprolol, enalapril, cilazapril, simvastatin, clopidogrel, diclofenac) and two metabolites of metamizole (4-acetylaminoantipyrine and 4-formylaminoantipyrine) were selected for this study. The influence of chemical treatment on MWCNT surface characteristics and extraction efficiency was studied, and it was shown that HCl treatment of MWCNT leads to a decrease in the amount of surface oxygen groups and at the same time favorably affects the efficiency toward extraction of selected pharmaceuticals. After the optimization of the SPE procedure, the following conditions were chosen: 50 mg of HCl-treated MCWNT as a sorbent, 100 mL of water sample at pH 6, and 15 mL of the methanol-dichloromethane mixture (1:1, v/v) as eluent. Under optimal conditions, high recoveries (79-119%), as well as low detection (0.2 to 103 ng L) and quantitation (0.5-345 ng L) limits, were obtained. The optimized method was applied to the analysis of five surface water and two groundwater samples, and three pharmaceuticals were detected, the antiepileptic drug carbamazepine and two metabolites of antipyretic metamizole.