Facile development of copper ferrite nanospheres for UV light-driven photocatalytic degradation of cloxacillin sodium

Abstract

Copper ferrite nanoparticles (CuFe₂O₄ NPs) have multiple applications in various fields. Herein, a co-precipitation method under mild basic conditions has been used to develop CuFe₂O₄ NPs. The obtained precipitates were annealed at 500 °C for 4 hours to form copper ferrite. The synthesis of CuFe₂O₄ NPs was initially confirmed by UV-visible spectroscopy. The presence of specific functional groups like Fe–O was found at 593 cm⁻¹ using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The tetrahedral crystal structure for the CuFe₂O₄ NPs has been confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis. The nanosphere-like morphology was confirmed by field emission scanning electron microscopy and the average calculated size of the nanoparticles is ∼45 nm and the pH_PZC for the CuFe₂O₄ NPs is 6.67. The synthesized CuFe₂O₄ NPs were used for UV light-mediated degradation of cloxacillin sodium (CLX). The degradation of CLX was optimized under different sets of conditions including times of exposure of the drug with the catalyst under UV light, pH values, concentrations, and dosages of the catalyst. The total organic carbon (TOC) confirms 39% degradation of the drug, which is converted into inorganic carbon (IC) and in line with other experimental results. This study provides new insight into the use of copper ferrite to overcome pharmaceutical pollution of water bodies.