| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
MS&T23: Materials Science & Technology
|
| Symposium
|
Advanced Ceramics for Environmental Remediation
|
| Presentation Title |
Highly Performing Solar-Light-Driven Photodegradation of Metronidazole by Nickel Hexacyanoferrate Nanocubes |
| Author(s) |
Federico Polo, Edlind Lushaj, Matteo Bordin, Letizia Liccardo |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Federico Polo |
| Abstract Scope |
Environmental pollution, particularly that one regarding the presence of drugs in wastewater, has dramatically increased and is also posing serious issues for the public health. In recent years, the interest of the scientific community has been devoted to address these issues by developing new engineered materials. Here we describe our recent findings concerning the photocatalytic activity of Ni-hexacyanoferrate (Ni-HCF) nanocubes, which has been investigated in the photodegradation of aqueous solutions of metronidazole (MDZ) under simulated solar light. Ni-HCF showed very promising results leading to ~95% yield for the MDZ degradation after 6 hours. The remarkable performance can be attributed to a higher ability in separating the charge carriers and to a lower charge transfer resistance, as demonstrated by electrochemical measurements. These achievements highlight the possibility to combine the performance of an earth-abundant catalysts with a renewable energy source for environmental remediation, meeting the requirements of a sustainable development. |