Rational design of novel 0D/0D Bi2Sn2O7/CeO2 in the core-shell nanostructure for boosting the photocatalytic decomposition of antibiotics in wastewater: S-type-based mechanism

The problem of antibiotic contamination resulting from pharmaceutical industries and hospitals always puts humans and the ecosystem at serious risk. The search for novel and superior approaches to eliminating these contaminants is still the highest priority for researchers. In this work, a simple two-step approach was employed to design a novel Bi2Sn2O7/CeO2 nano-hybrid in a core-shell heterostructure. A number of sophisticated analyses were carried out to characterize and identify the structure, morphology, and catalytic behavior of nanomaterials. The optimized Bi2Sn2O7/CeO2-20 recorded outstanding photocatalytic capacity by oxidation of 83 %, 73.5 %, 92.9 %, 87.4 %, and 90.3 % of ciprofloxacin (CIP), enrofloxacin (ENR), tetracycline (TC), amoxicillin (AMX), and levofloxacin (LEV) within 50 min of visible-light irradiation. Moreover, the kinetic studies of Bi2Sn2O7/CeO2-20 exhibit the optimal reaction capacity with a CIP photodegradation constant (k) of 0.03414 min 1, which is about 2.77 and 3.17 folds greater than that of bare Bi2Sn2O7 and CeO2, respectively. The photostability tests proved the good applicability of Bi2Sn2O7/CeO2-20 in CIP oxidation through five degradation runs. The Bi2Sn2O7/CeO2 hybrid manifested boosted charge separation behavior in the S-type system. The XPS spectra demonstrated the creation of the electric field in the S-type photocatalytic mechanism, while the trapping tests indicated the ability of Bi2Sn2O7/CeO2 to generate both center dot OH and center dot O-2 (-)radicals. This study might contribute to accelerating the progress of innovation and scientific advancement to discover powerful photocatalysts with superior capabilities for addressing environmental violations in sustainable approaches.