Solvothermal synthesis of InNbO4 cubes for efficient degradation of pefloxacin.

Jie Zhao, Xiao Guo, Qiang He, Qiang Song, Fei Wu, Chenhui Zhang

Spectrochimica acta. Part A, Molecular and biomolecular spectroscopy 2020 Jun 15

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A novel solvothermal process for synthesizing InNbO4 nanomaterials was developed. In this manner, a series of InNbO4 samples was synthesized. It was shown that reaction temperature and precursor pH had strong influence on the attributes of InNbO4 samples. The X-ray diffraction patterns revealed that all the samples possessed monoclinic structure and the optimal reaction condition was found at 250 °C with a pH of 5. Scanning electron microscopy images of different InNbO4 samples showed various morphologies. Transmission electron microscopy verified the synthesized InNbO4-pH 5 was single-crystal cubes. X-ray photoelectron spectra verified the existence of In, Nb, and O in InNbO4-pH 5 sample. The band gap of InNbO4-pH 5 was calculated to be 2.51 eV. The photocurrent intensity of InNbO4-pH 5 was the highest among the prepared samples. The photocatalytic degradation of pefloxacin was investigated using these samples. The InNbO4-pH 5 exhibited best degradation efficiency among these samples. The removal efficiency of pefloxacin with InNbO4-pH 5 could reach 80.2% in 60 min. Based on free radical capture results, superoxide radicals and holes showed to be the dominant active species. In addition, UHPLC/MS/MS was used to identify the degradation intermediates. Five new pefloxacin degradation products were found and possible degradation pathways were suggested. Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Citation

Jie Zhao, Xiao Guo, Qiang He, Qiang Song, Fei Wu, Chenhui Zhang. Solvothermal synthesis of InNbO4 cubes for efficient degradation of pefloxacin. Spectrochimica acta. Part A, Molecular and biomolecular spectroscopy. 2020 Jun 15;234:118247