Electrochemical degradation of the antibiotic ceftazidime by La doped modified PbO2 electrode: Catalytic conditions and degradation pathway

The use of antibiotics continues to increase, and its unreasonable use and discharge have caused great harm. Electrochemical oxidation is an effective method to solve this problem. In this work, which was prepared by electrodeposition of Ti/PbO₂ and Ti/PbO₂-La electrodes, using the above electrode explores the ceftazidime electrochemical degradation. The results indicated that the electrode doped with La had more active sites and better electrochemical performance. Through 2 h of degradation, the removal rate of ceftazidime attained 96.12 %. Meanwhile, the influence of current density, electrode spacing, electrolyte concentration, and initial concentration of ceftazidime on the degradation efficiency were systematically evaluated. Based on the identification of intermediate products, the degradation pathway was proposed, and ceftazidime was finally degraded to some small molecules. A new method was developed to remove the ceftazidime.