CeO<sub>2</sub> Nanoparticles Modified on Graphite Sheet Electrodes for Photoelectrochemical Tobacco Wastewater Detection, Degradation, and Toxicity Measurement
Humayun Amir, Nikhil Prabhakar, Govindhan Thiruppathi, P. Sundararaj, N. Ponpandian, C. Viswanathan
Abstract
Monitoring and implementation of gutka wastewater treatment using a fast and feasible fabrication method, owing to the clean water environment, have a great socioeconomic impact. A facile approach is promoted for detecting and degrading nicotine and gutka wastewater by the means of a wide range of ultraviolet light absorption and is applied in our current research. In this report, we successfully synthesized cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO 2 NPs) by a co-precipitation method for photoelectrochemical (PEC) detection and degradation of smokeless tobacco from wastewater. X-ray diffraction study confirmed the face-centered cubic structure of CeO 2 NPs. Raman analysis and ultraviolet–visible spectroscopy endorsed the formation of CeO 2 NPs. The as-fabricated CeO 2 NP-modified graphite sheet electrode showed high sensitivity (98.1 μA/μM) and good linear range (10–150 nM) for the detection of tobacco from wastewater. The limit of detection was calculated as 0.15 nM. The catalyst photoelectrochemically degraded 93% of nicotine and 94.21% of gutka wastewater at 120 min. Toxicity studies of gutka with an in vivo nematode model, Caenorhabditis elegans, and Vigna radiata proved that PECO-degraded gutka waste had no deleterious effects on the survival (95.43%) ( p < 0.01) of C. elegans when compared to nondegraded gutka waste (11.93%) and did not affect the physiological functions and reactive oxygen species production.