Photocatalytic Degradation of Anti-inflammatory Drug on Ti Doped BaBiO3 Nanocatalyst under Visible Light Irradiation

Nanosized perovskites BaBiO3 and BaBi4Ti4O15 were prepared using Pechini method. These structures were confirmed through thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis diffusion reflection spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The XRD patterns suggest that BaBiO3 is crystalized in the monoclinic structure while a member of aurivillius family, bismuth-based layer-structured BaBi4Ti4O15 is crystalized in tetragonal structure. The band gap is calculated from the UV-Vis DRS and is found to be 2.07 eV and 1.80 eV for BaBiO3 and BaBi4Ti4O15, respectively. The low band gap and the UV-Vis DRS of BaBi4Ti4O15 showed a clear improvement in reflectance under visible light irradiation, indicating a new Ti doped nano BaBiO3 catalyst. Furthermore, the prepared nanosized perovskites were applied in the degradation of ibuprofen, one kind of non- steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, via photocatalytic processes. It is shown that BaBi4Ti4O15 exhibited drastic enhancement on degradation of drug under visible light irradiation compared to BaBiO3. The drug was also more efficiently mineralized in the BaBi4Ti4O15 photocatalytic process. The degradation pathway can be described as an interconnected successive principal decaroxylation, hydroxylation and demethylation steps.