Synthesis, Size Characterization and Catalytic Application Studies on the Biostabilised CuO Nanocubes for the Oxidation of Drugs with pH and Mass Effects

Drug polluted waters are treated by various methods. Among the chemical methods the advanced oxidation process is adopted in this work using copper oxide nanocubes stabilized with green polymers namely chitosan and starch. Copper oxide nanocubes (CuOnc) are characterized using FTIR, FESEM and HRTEM. The edge side length of nanocubes of starch and chitosan stabilized CuO are found to be 10 ± 1nm, 8 ± 1 nm respectively. H2O 2 is used as the oxidant. Time dependant UV spectra for the oxidation of the three drugs namely gentamicin (GE), furosemide (FU) and deriphyllin (DH) are studied under the pseudo first order conditions, using the Cuonc as the catalyst. Based on the absorbance versus time plots, the kinetic plots for the rate coefficient determination are made. The optimum pH values for the maximum rate coefficient values for the three drugs are found to lie within the range of pKa values. The catalyst mass effect was studied and 1mg of CuOnc has been found to be effective. The trend observed in the rate coefficient values for the oxidative degradation for the three drugs is GE>FU>DH and chitosan stabilized CuOnc is found to catalyse better than the starch stabilized ones for the oxidative degradation of the drugs.