from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
Cytostatic drugs are a broad group of chemotherapy compounds mainly applied for tumor, skin diseases and infections treatments. Anticancer pharmaceutics are exhibited carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic activity and have been recognized as low biodegradable so their concentration would increase in the environment. Effective removal of pharmaceuticals in municipal wastewater treatment plants plays a critical role in preventing them from getting into the aquatic environment. Presented work focuses on the photocatalytic removal of poor biodegradable actual micropollutant – Imatinib (IMA) from aqueous solution. The 2.5 wt. % multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) modified TiO2 nanocomposite was synthesized by two methods: sol-gel (s-g) and hydrothermal (hyd). The anatase as a photocatalysts’ structure was confirmed by using X-day diffraction technique. Photoluminescence and UV-vis tests were used for investigation of photocatalysts optical properties. The scanning electron microscopy techniques used for morphology investigation showed the various location of MWCNTs in composites depending of synthesis method applied. Good photocatalytic properties of both 2.5% MWCNTs/TiO2 for imatinib degradation under UVA, and artificial solar light irradiation was showed. Imatinib was also removed and mineralized under visible light irradiation by 2.5% MWCNTs/TiO2(s-g). The study showed that MWCNTs contributed in increasing photocatalytic activity of TiO2 in solar and/or visible light due to retardation of electron–hole recombination and visible light absorption by modification of band-gap and/or sensitization.
Keywords: TiO2, multiwalled carbon nanotubes, photocatalysis, cytostatic drugs© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.