Rapid catalytic degradation of amoxicillin drug using ZnFe2O4/PCz nanohybrids under microwave irradiation

[Display omitted] •ZnFe2O4 and ZnFe2O4/PCz nanohybrids synthesized via chemical route.•Microwave-assisted catalytic activity of ZnFe2O4 and ZnFe2O4/PCz against Amoxcillin degradation.•99% degradation achieved in 24 min microwave irradiation using ZnFe2O4/PCz-60/40 nanohybrid.•Probable degradation pathway proposed based on LCMS data.•Mechanism of microwave-assisted catalytic degradation of PCz modified ZnFe2O4. The present work reports synthesis of ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles and formulation of its nanohybrids using polycarbazole (PCz). Morphological studies showed formation of dense as well as hollow distorted spherical particles. The thermal stability was found to follow the order: ZnFe2O4 > ZnFe2O4/PCz-80/20 > ZnFe2O4/PCz-70/30 > ZnFe2O4/PCz-60/40. Saturation magnetization was noticed to be lower for ZnFe2O4/ PCz-60/40 as compared to pristine ZnFe2O4.. The optical band gap values were calculated to be 2.0 ± 0.2 eV for ZnFe2O4, 2.08 ± 0.3 eV for ZnFe2O4 /PCz-80/20, 1.5 ± 0.2 eV for ZnFe2O4/PCz-70/30 and 1.0 ± 0.3 eV for ZnFe2O4/PCz-60/40. Maximum degradation efficiency against amoxicillin drug was observed to be almost 99% within 24 min using ZnFe2O4/PCz-60/40 nanohybrid. A tentative degradation pathway of the antibiotic drug was proposed and the mechanism of microwave-assisted catalytic activity was established based on the scavenging experiments.