Abstract Pharmaceutical pollution in water poses a significant and escalating threat to both human health and the environment. In response to this challenge, a novel photocatalytic approach using zinc acetate nanoparticles (ZnOA-NPs) and clay has been developed to effectively eliminate diclofenac (DCF), considered a common pharmaceutical pollutant.The photocatalyst was characterised using various techniques to ascertain its structural and textural properties. Subsequently, the DCF degradation was investigated under varying conditions, including contact time, initial pollutant concentration and ZnOA/clay catalyst dosage.Remarkably, the results showed an impressive degradation of DCF of up to 94% after 90 min of treatment. The photocatalytic oxidation of DCF was fitted by the pseudo-second-order (PSO) kinetic model. Furthermore, the catalyst performs well for up to four cycles, highlighting its potential for sustainable and reusable applications.
Atawa et al. (Tue,) studied this question.