Enhanced mineralization of pharmaceuticals and textiles waste by Sn2MnxO3/Co(1-x) photocatalyst: Approach, mechanism and statistical optimization

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs), particularly photocatalysis catalyzed by efficient and economical photocatalysts, is an emerging and sustainable approach. Band gap engineering, and spin polarization induction by anchoring spatially adjacent redox sites (metal cation vacancies) in the material is an excellent way for ensuring enhanced photocatalytic performance. Inspired by this, herein a novel and effective Sn rich Co co-doped Co 0.5 Sn 2 Mn 0.5 O 3 (C-SMO 3 ) oxide perovskite photocatalyst has been designed to accelerate charge separation and inhibit charge carrier recombination at redox intimate interfaces and defective Co, Mn 3 + /Mn 4+ dual sites for photocatalysis. The synthesized photocatalyst has been confirmed by various characterizations such as UV-Vis spectrophotometry, FTIR, XRD, SEM, TEM, HR-TEM, Raman, XPS, etc. The FTIR shows characteristics peaks of all constituent components. The crystalline morphology, d-spacing and shape of composite materials deduced from SEM, TEM, HR-TEM and XRD are all in agreement with each other hence the formation Co doped Sn rich SnMnO 3 has been confirmed. The experimental results demonstrate C-SMO 3 a potential dynamic dual site contender for wastewater decontamination. The spatially adjacent redox sites Co (1- x) - Mn 3+ /Mn 4+ inhibit photo-exciton recombination and accelerates charge carrier responsible for photocatalytic degradation of contaminants synchronized by light harvesting efficiency. The dual redox half reactions synergized photoinduced charge carriers dynamically enhanced the Sn 2 Mn 0.5 O 3 /Co (1- x) photodegradation property and performed 98 % breakdown of EB in 50 min, 96.7 % of CV dye in 90 min, and 90.9 % of CEF antibiotics under visible light irradiations optimized by RSM. The photocatalyst was recycled and reused due to its convenient recyclability, resulting in nearly stable degradation efficiency.