Abstract
This paper reports the photocatalytic degradation of levofioxacin (LEVO), a widely used antibiotic drug, using highly crystalline TiO2 nanopartides. The TiO2 nanopartides were synthesized using a sol gel technique and characterized by various techniques in terms of their morphologicat structurat compositionat thermal and optical properties. The detailed studies revealed that the prepared TiO2 nanopartides are grown in high density, are highly crystalline and exhibit good optical properties. Over 90% photocatalytic degradation of LEVO was achieved by the prepared TiO2 nanopartides in 120 min under UV Eight illumination. By comparing the photocatalytic degradation properties of the prepared TiO2 nanopartides with a commercially avallable TiO2 catalyst (P25 and PC-50), it was observed that the as-synthesized TiO2 nanoparticles exhibited a superior photocatalytic performance towards LEVO. Moreover, the antibiotic efficacy of levofioxacion was tested against E. coli and interestingly, it was found that its antibacterial activity was drastically inhibited after the treatment of the drug solutions with the prepared photocatalyst.