آتنا نعیمی

In this study, a novel bentonite/cellulose@lead oxide (BT-CL-PbO) bio-nanocomposite was synthesized via a green route. For this proposal, the extracted cellulose from barley waste and natural bentonite were bonded together by covalent bonding, and finally the biosynthesized lead oxide nanoparticles were immobilized on them. Then, due to the destructive impacts of antibiotic contaminants on the environment and ecosystem, the catalytic activity of nanocomposite was investigated for the photodegradation of ciprofloxacin. The BT-CL-PbO exhibited excellent catalytic activity over CIP degradation under sunlight. Effect of initial pH, ciprofloxacin concentration, BT-CL-PbO dosage, and the existence of anions on photocatalytic activity was studied. The photodegradation process of CIP fitted the pseudo-first-order kinetic model, and the rate constants in the presence of BT-CL-PbO reached 0.1309 min
1, which was about 2.3 times higher than that of bare PbO nanoparticles. The scavenging experiments confirmed that photoexcited holes (h+) played the prominent role in the photodegradation of CIP. The BT-CL-PbO showed high stability and reusability after three cycles of photodegradation. The obtained results found that the BT-CL-PbO is a cost-effective and recyclable photocatalyst for the photodegradation of CIP and can be used for the treatment of other pharmaceutical contaminants.