Brief study on the kinetic aspect of photodegradation of sulfasalazine aqueous solution by cuprous oxide/cadmium sulfide nanoparticles

A boosted photocatalytic activity was obtained for the as-synthesized Cu2O-CdS nanocomposite (NC) with respect to single Cu2O and CdS nanoparticles in the photodegradation of sulfasalazine (SFSZ) in aquatic media. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy were characterization techniques used in this work. The best mole ratio was 2:1 for the Cu2O/CdS in the composite to achieve the best photodegradation efficiency. After 15 min, 230, 410, 585, 760 and 450 nano-moles of SFSZ molecules were degraded for concentrations of 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 ppm of SFSZ solutions, respectively. The optimal conditions were CSFSZ: 30 mg L-1, pH 5, 25 min irradiation time and 0.5 g L-1 of the Cu2O-CdS composite. Degradation extents of 94%, 94.7% and 82% were, respectively, estimated for the degradation of SFSZ molecules based on the results obtained by UV-Vis spectroscopy, high-performance liquid chromatography and chemical oxygen demand measurements.