Journal of Water and Wastewater; Ab va Fazilab (in persian)

Journal of Water and Wastewater; Ab va Fazilab (in persian)

Toward Efficient Solar-Driven Photocatalytic Treatment of Water Contaminated with Various Antibiotics Using a Porous BiOBr (2D)/UiO-66 (0D) Heterojunction Nanostructure

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Bahman Rezaei 1
Farhad Rahmani 2
Mehrdad Khamforoush 2
1 MSc. Graduate, Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran
2 Assoc. Prof., Dept. of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Kurdistan, Sanandaj, Iran
10.22093/wwj.2025.535808.3502
Abstract
Contamination of water resources by antibiotics poses a serious threat to public health and the environment, necessitating the development of sustainable treatment strategies. In this study, the effective treatment of water contaminated with commonly used antibiotics-tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, and amoxicillin-both individually and in mixture, was evaluated under natural sunlight irradiation using a BiOBr (2D)/UiO-66 (0D) nanocomposite. The nanocomposite was synthesized via a two-step thermochemical method with a Bi:Zr atomic ratio of 11:1 and characterized using XRD, FESEM/EDX, UV-Vis and nitrogen adsorption–desorption analyses. Characterization results confirmed the successful synthesis of a porous type-II heterojunction structure with pore sizes mainly in the range of 2-10 nm, a surface area of 25.11 m2/g, efficient solar light absorption, a layered morphology of BiOBr decorated with UiO-66 nanoparticles with relatively uniform distribution, and suitable interaction. Performance tests indicated acceptable efficiency of the synthesized nanocomposite in the photocatalytic degradation of different antibiotics and effective solar-assisted treatment of polluted water. Within 2 h under sunlight irradiation and at a dosage of 0.5 g/L, the nanocomposite achieved degradation efficiencies of 90.8, 88.7 and 66.8% for tetracycline, ciprofloxacin, and amoxicillin, respectively, in single-solute systems with an initial concentration of 10 ppm. In the mixed-antibiotic system, degradation efficiencies were 90.9, 83.3, and 28.4%, respectively. Kinetic analysis of the removal efficiencies showed that the photodegradation of all three antibiotics followed a first-order model. Reusability assessment of the nanocomposite showed structural stability and suitable photocatalytic activity over four consecutive cycles. These findings introduce the synthesized nanocomposite as an efficient, stable, reusable, and environmentally friendly photocatalyst for the treatment of antibiotic-contaminated water under sunlight.
Keywords
Photocatalytic Treatment
Sunlight
Antibiotics
BiOBr-Based Nanocomposite
Metal-Organic Frameworks

Subjects

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Journal of Water and Wastewater; Ab va Fazilab (in persian)
Volume 36, Issue 2 - Serial Number 157
July and August 2026
Pages 23-42