Degradation of Ofloxacin in Aqueous Phase Using TiO2/ZnO

The existence of pharmaceutical contaminants in water has attracted increasing concern. These substances are biologically active even in small units because they retain their behaviour even after being released in the aquatic environment. Their presence in natural ecosystem is a threat to human health and other living organisms. Most of these compounds have polar structure and highly toxic in nature which are very difficult to decompose. Photocatalysis is a promising technique for the degradation of organic pollutants from aqueous phase. In this work, we have synthesized TiO2/ZnO nanocomposite using hydrothermal method and used as photocatalyst for the degradation of a pharmaceutical compound i.e. ofloxacin in aqueous phase. The synthesized nanocomposite has been characterized by various techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and BET surface area analysis. The degradation studies of ofloxacin under solar light with the prepared nanocomposite revealed promising results.