Algae-synthesized cerium oxide nanoparticles for antibiotic degradation in water and subsequent bioenergy production.

In the present study, CeO₂ nanoparticles were synthesized using one-pot green route with high yield using microalgae Chlorella sorokiniana. The synthesized CeO₂ nanoparticles (CeO₂-np) exhibited rapid photocatalytic degradation 98.2% of doxycycline (DC) (20 mg/L) in only 30 min under visible light at pH7 in water. It was encouraging that CeO₂-np did not demonstrate a loss of photocatalytic activity up to five repeated cycles, confirming its stability during the degradation process. Moreover, cytotoxicity evaluation of CeO₂-nps on the green alga Chlorella sorokiniana advocated its non-toxic nature by supporting algal growth (0.52 g/L biomass) with 13% total lipids after 12 days in DC treated water. Ultimately, the produced algal biomass could be further utilized as a feedstock of biofuel production.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-024-04134-z.