Enhanced Photocatalytic Performance of ZnO NPs in the Presence of Solar Light and H2O2 for Degradation of Tetracycline from Wastewater: Optimal Conditions for Green Products

In recent years, there has been an increase in the consumption of pharmaceuticals, especially antibiotics. Tetracycline (TC) is one of the widely used antibiotics, as it causes resistance to all microorganisms in ecosystems. In addition, it is classified as a controlled antibiotic. In this work, the efficiency of TC drug degradation via photolysis and hetero-generous photo catalytic methods is studied under effect of several volumes of H2O2 (0-4 mL) as an oxidizing agent. Characterization of the sample was carried out via UV-visible spectroscopy, XRD, FESEM, EDX, and TEM. The reveal results the photocatalytic degradation of TC drug is 92.67 %, at the best conditions weight of catalyst ZnO NPs 0.3 g, volume of hydrogen peroxide (3 mL), and concentration of TC drug 50 mg/L, pH=6, at irradiation time 60 min. H2O2 doses (0 and 4 mL) appear to have important variances in the first 10 min of the reaction for 4 mL of H202 comparative with the solution without H2O2 giving the best PDE% (98.44%). The (PDE%) rises as concentration of TC drugs decreases from (92.67%-29.76%), but light intensity increases. Regeneration/recycling of ZnO NPs the photo catalytic degradation efficiency was 88.9 %, 82.8 %, and 77.5% through 4 cycles compared to standard solution(fresh) was 92.67 %.