Photocatalytic degradation of paracetamol by semiconductor oxides under UV and sunlight illumination

In this study, photocatalytic degradation of paracetamol (acetaminophen), an analgesic and antipyretic drug, was investigated in using semiconductors under UV-B sunlight irradiation. Semiconductor materials, Bi2O3, ZnO, TiO2, ZrO2, were prepared simple sol-gel, coprecipitation, microwave synthesis methods. These photocatalyts characterized by various spectroscopic other techniques. As a result the reactions, 25 ppm with Bi2O3 ZnO photocatalyst, total achieved irradiation 90 min. The results activities showed that highest rate obtained photocatalyst. light all findings, nanorod-shaped semiconductor which has low band gap energy high quantum efficiency exhibited significant effect on activity despite its surface area.