Efficient Visible-Light-Driven degradation of amoxicillin antibiotic using reduced graphene oxide decorated copper oxide nanocomposite materials

Pharmaceutical contaminants have become a major source of pollution in water resources worldwide, with growing awareness of their profound health and environmental consequences. Therefore, the development of efficient, cost-effective, and sustainable methods for removing or degrading these pollutants from water is essential. Herein, the reduced graphene oxide nanosheets decorated with copper oxide (rGO-CuO) nanocomposite was prepared for the effective photocatalytic degradation of amoxicillin (AMX) antibiotic in water. The structural and morphological properties of the prepared rGO-CuO nanocomposite were thoroughly investigated using XRD, SEM, EDX, and AFM analyses. These studies showed that the as-prepared nanocomposite has a crystalline structure having the average size of 25 nm with high elemental purity and rough morphology. The synthesized rGO-CuO nanocomposite photocatalyst was further employed for the degradation of AMX antibiotic. By optimizing key experimental parameters, such as catalyst dosage (0.8 mg), proton source concentration (0.003 M), and sunlight exposure duration (10 min), an exceptional 98.7 % degradation of AMX was achieved. This remarkable outcome highlights the excellent photocatalytic performance of the rGO-CuO nanocomposite. Moreover, the as-prepared rGO-CuO-based photocatalyst can be effective at large-scale for the degradation of other antibiotics after optimization.