Pharmaceutical Pollution (DCF, PARA & TC) Treatment and Remediation Via AOP-enhanced HB-TiO2 Catalyst With Antimicrobial Activity

Novel HB-TiO₂ nanoparticles were successfully synthesized by Greens route method and used as photocatalyst with Fenton reagent to degrade pharmaceutical pollutants, specifically diclofenac (DCF), paracetamol (PARA), and tetracycline (TC). The synthesized HB-TiO₂ were characterized using P-XRD, FTIR, UV-Visible DRS, FE-SEM, EDX, DLS and Zeta potential. Scherrers equation and the WH plot yield average grain sizes of 7.33 nm and 7.29 nm, respectively, for the HB-TiO₂ from P-XRD, and both methods offer reliable grain size confirmation. The vibrational modes and functional groups were identified using FTIR. The optical properties are evaluated using UV-visible DRS, and the band gap was determined to be 3.05 eV using the Tauc equation. Using DCF, PARA, and TC as model pollutants, degradation tests were conducted under various light sources to assess the activation of HB-TiO₂ with Fenton reagent. The outcomes showed highest degradation of DCF, PARA, and TC reaching 100% under UV 254 nm irradiation at pH 2.5 which was achieved in within 20 min, outperforming pH 7.0 and pH 10.5 after 40 min. It was proposed that HB-TiO₂ –Fenton reagent activation leads to the breakdown of contaminants. The degradation patterns of pollutants using several approaches, including Fenton’s reagent, photocatalyst (HB-TiO₂), photo Fenton catalyst and hydrogen peroxide were also examined. When compared to other methods, it demonstrates that Fenton’s reagent, which contains a HB-TiO₂ photocatalyst, has the maximum activity for breaking down pollutants. These results highlight effectiveness as a catalyst in the breakdown of organic pollutants and highlight its potential applications in environmental remediation. In addition, testing on the antifungal and antibacterial attributes of HB-TiO₂ nanoparticles demonstrated a strong antibacterial and antifungal efficiency against the tested microorganisms. These findings suggest that synthesized nanoparticles possess potent antimicrobial properties, making them a promising candidate for the development of novel antimicrobial materials to combat microbial infections. This study highlights the novelty of utilizing rubber leaf extract for the synthesis of HB-TiO2 photocatalysts through the co-precipitation method and explores their application with Fenton reagent for the degradation of paracetamol, diclofenac, and tetracycline under various light irradiations, a topic not previously addressed in the literature.