Synthesis and characterization of Fe2O3 doped ZnO supported on clinoptilolite for photocatalytic degradation of metronidazole

ZnO/Fe2O3/Clinoptilolite photocatalyst was synthesized through sol–gel method. The photocatalyst was characterized by XRD, XRF, EDX, FE-SEM, FT-IR, BET and UV–VIS DRS analyses. According to the XRD, FT-IR, and EDX results, the presence of ZnO and Fe2O3 was confirmed on the clinoptilolite surface. Based on the XRF results, the molar ratio of Fe3+/ZnO in the photocatalyst was obtained as 0.06. The FE-SEM results confirmed stabilization of ZnO/Fe2O3 on the clinoptilolite surface. Based on the BET results, the surface area and pore volume for the photocatalyst were obtained as 291.35 m2/g and 0.23 cm3/g, respectively. According to the UV–VIS DRS results, the band gap energy of the photocatalyst was measured as 3.38 eV. The performance of the synthesized photocatalyst in degrading metronidazole from contaminated water, as one of the most widely used antibiotics in pharmaceutical industries, was evaluated by response surface methodology. Operational factors including pH (4–10), metronidazole concentration (1–100 mg/l), irradiation time (45–180 min), photocatalyst concentration (0.5–2 g/l), and H2O2 concentration (25–100 mg/l) were investigated. The optimal values of the factors in degrading 99% of the contaminant were as follows: irradiation time = 90 min, photocatalyst concentration = 1 g/l, pH = 10, H2O2 concentration = 40 mg/l, and MNZ concentration = 60 mg/l.