DC-glow plasma-assisted precipitation synthesis of S-scheme 1D nanostick-like SrSn(OH)6 decorated with AgBr nanophotocatalyst: Sono-sunlight photocatalytic hybrid system for destruction of anti-coronavirus and antibiotics

Abstract

In this study, it was introduced a novel solar-light-induced S-scheme nanostick-like SrSn(OH)₆ decorated with AgBr co-photocatalyst, synthesized using a plasma-assisted sono-precipitation method. The influence of co-photocatalyst dosage (0, 10, 20, and 30 wt%) and the presence of the non-thermal DC-glow plasma irradiation to improve the surface of the nanostick-like SrSn(OH)₆ photocatalyst was investigated. To characterize the X-ray diffraction, Field-emission scanning electron microscopy, 3 Dimensional texture, Transmission electron microscopy, Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy-Dot mapping, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller and Barrett-Joyner-Halenda and Ultraviolet–visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, Photoluminescence spectroscopy, and Mott-Schottky analyses were employed and the activity of samples as-synthesized was evaluated in the sono-/photocatalysis system. The AgBr(30 %)/SrSn(OH)₆-Plasma nanophotocatalyst exhibited desirable crystallinity, nano-spherical particles-on-nanostick morphology, meso-/macropores structure, well dispersion, pore volume (0.160 cm³/g), the high proportion of macropores with a diameter exceeding 100 nm (33.5 %) and specific surface area (27.3 m²/g). The DRS analysis of the AgBr(30 %)/SrSn(OH)₆-Plasma nanophotocatalyst illustrated the indirect optical transition and the generation of an S-scheme heterojunction with two absorption edges corresponded to the band gap energies (2.87 and 3.43 eV), enhancing the photocatalyst's responsiveness to the solar light. This nanophotocatalyst with significant features demonstrated the optimal and rapid sono-photocatalytic activity for the removal of tetracycline HCl (83.2 %), ofloxacin (71.8 %), and favipiravir, as an essential coronavirus drug, (57.4 %). The kinetic rate constant (k_app) of the sono-photocatalysis hybrid system was approximately 0.0401, 1.5 times higher than that of the photocatalysis system (0.0255). Radical trapping experiments revealed that ·OH and were the primary reactive species in the sono-photocatalytic degradation process, further supporting the proposed mechanism.