Activation of Persulfate for Improved Naproxen Degradation Using FeCo<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub>@g-C<sub>3</sub>N<sub>4</sub> Heterojunction Photocatalysts
Baskaran Palanivel, Md Shahadat Hossain, Romulo R. Macadangdang, Chinnadurai Ayappan, Vignesh Krishnan, Raj Marnadu, T. Kalaivani, Fahad A. Alharthi, Gedi Sreedevi
Abstract
for the degradation reaction against naproxen drugs. An effective interaction between the nanoparticles increases the degradation efficiency up to 91% with a synergistic index of 73.62%. Moreover, the nanocomposite exhibits a 78% mineralization efficiency against the naproxen pollutant under visible-light irradiation. For practical implementation, the degradation reaction was tested with various pH values, different water sources (DI, lake, and tap water), and light sources (LED (visible)/direct sunlight (UV-visible)). Moreover, the possible degradation mechanism predicted by the elemental trapping experiment and the recycling experiment clearly revealed that the heterojunction composite has a high enough degradation stability.