In-situ dual effect of Ag-Fe-TiO2 composite for the photocatalytic degradation of Ciprofloxacin in aqueous solution

Industrial waste materials such as Fly Ash (FA), Foundry Sand (FS) were used as support material by mixing them with clay to fix the catalyst. Where FA and FS served as an iron (Fe) source to induce the photo-Fenton process. The presence of Fe in FA and FS was affirmed by SEM-EDS characterization. UV-DRS was performed to analyze the bandgap of the composite which reduced from 2.96 to 2.82 eV after doping TiO2 with Ag. This composite was used to initiate photocatalysis. The fixing of catalyst on a support formed the Fe-Ag-TiO2 complex which led to the commencement of the in-situ dual process(i.e. photocatalysis and photo-Fenton) in fixed bed mode. After the optimization of several parameters such as H2O2 dose, the area covered by beads, A/V ratio, Flow rate, pH under solar irradiations for 60 min, 94.4% degradation of CIP was attained. XRD analysis was carried out to confirm the crystallographic phases of the composite anatase and rutile phases of TiO2 were present in the composite. The systematic leaching of iron took place in this process and was confirmed by iron estimation during the reaction process. To understand the elemental composition of the composite SEM-EDS was performed and the present of TiO2, Fe and Ag was affirmed. Composite beads were stable and active even after the 30 recycles as confirmed by SEM-EDS. The intermediate products were analyzed by GC-MS analysis whereas the toxicity of the treated samples was studied by the zone inhibition test. •CIP degradation using Ag-Fe-TiO2 composite in fixed-mode.•CIP reduction got double in dual process as compared to other processes.•81.6% degradation obtained in 60 min of treatment time.•Dual process exhibited excellent efficiency upto 30 recycles.