Synthesis of Cu-Doped TiO2 Nanocatalyst for the Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation and Mineralization of Gabapentin under UVA/LED Irradiation: Characterization and Photocatalytic Activity

Abstract

Light-harvesting of titanium oxide (TiO2) was enhanced by copper (Cu) doping, and its performance was evaluated by gabapentin (GBP) degradation under UVA-LED irradiation. The morphology and structure of TiO2 and Cu-TiO2 were characterized using XRD, FTIR, FE-SEM, EDX, TEM, PL, DRS, and BET analysis. The complete degradation of 10 mg/L GBP was obtained in the developed photocatalytic process under the optimal conditions: catalyst loading, 0.4 g/L; pH solution, 8; and reaction time, 20 min. The reactive species trapping was studied to identify the degradation mechanism in this system. Among the water matrix experiments, phosphate (PO43−) anion indicated an inverse effect in increasing efficiency. Finally, the main intermediates generation during the GBP degradation was investigated based on LC-MS analysis, and a decomposition pathway was proposed. Accordingly, doping TiO2 with Cu resulted in the development of a UVA-activated photocatalyst for efficiently degrading and mineralizing GBP as a model of a pharmaceutical compound.

Sol–Gel-Derived TiO2 and TiO2/Cu Nanoparticles: Synthesis, Characterization, and Antibacterial Efficacy

“…The elemental mapping ( Figure 4 a–b) demonstrates that the Cu atoms are uniformly dispersed on the TiO 2 surface for all the TiO 2 /Cu samples. Ahmadiasl et al 37 who confirmed the homogeneous distribution of Cu in the Cu-doped TiO 2 nanoparticles have reported similar results.…”

Titanium Dioxide (TiO2) Doping Copper (Cu) with Annealing Temperature Variation as Photoanode for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC)

“…The addition of doping shifts the position of the absorption band caused by the insertion of material from the sample lattice [15]. In addition, bond vibrations were observed in the wave number range of 1000 cm-1 to 1250 cm-1 after the existence of Cu doping, which was identified in the form of Cu-O bonds as a result of lattice vibrations of TiO2 as a result of the presence of doping material [16]. However, the Cu -O bond was not identified in the CT0 sample because there was no annealing process, which resulted in incomplete bond formation.…”