Photocatalytic degradation of sulfamethoxazole in visible irradiation using nanosized NiTiO3 perovskite

Nickel titanium oxide (NiTiO3) nanoparticles were synthesized at low temperature in non aqueous medium by modified Pechini method using ethylene glycol and citric acid as polymeric precursors. The structural and morphological characteristics of the products were studied by X-ray diffraction, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), UV-Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-DRS), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX). XRD patterns of powder revealed crystalline rhombohedral NiTiO3 obtained at 700 o C and this crystalinity increased with temperature. SEM images estimated that the grain sizes of NiTiO3 to be in the range 10–250 nm. DRS spectra reveal two peaks, one at around 440-450 nm and another one at around 740-750 nm. The band gap energy was calculated using Tauc plot and it was found to be 1.67 eV. In this study, photocatalytic properties of NiTiO3 on sulfamethoxazole drug degradation was investigated which has not been reported elsewhere and results shows that it is a prominent material for photodegradation of drug in the range of visible light.