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Ag-doped Cu 2 O immobilized carbon beads (Ag/Cu 2 O@CB) based composite photocatalysts have been prepared for the removal of levofloxacin, an antibiotic, from water. The photocatalysts were prepared by the processes of chemical reduction and in-situ solid-phase precipitation. The composite photocatalyst was characterized by a porous and interconnected network structure. Ag nanoparticles were deposited on Cu 2 O particles to develop a metal-based semiconductor to increase the catalytic efficiency of the system and the separation efficiency of the photogenerated carriers. Cellulose-derived carbon beads (CBs) can also be used as electron storage libraries which can capture electrons released from the conduction band of Cu 2 O. The results revealed that the maximum catalytic degradation efficiency of the composite photocatalyst for the antibiotic levofloxacin was 99.02 %. The Langmuir-Hinshelwood model was used to study the reaction kinetics, and the process of photodegradation followed first-order kinetics. The maximum apparent rate was recorded to be 0.0906 min -1 . The mass spectrometry technique showed that levofloxacin degraded into carbon dioxide and water in the presence of the photocatalyst. The results revealed that the easy-to-produce photocatalyst was stable and efficient in levofloxacin removing., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Due to its hydrophilicity, the antibiotic tylosin (TYL) was challenging to remove entirely from water through traditional techniques. The design of an efficient photocatalyst for the degradation of TYL is a matter of great urgency. Herein, carboxylated cellulose beads embedded with Au-doped TiO2 nanoparticles (Au/TiO2-CCBs) were fabricated via interfacial solid-phase chemical modification with straightforward photo-deposition and TEMPO-mediated oxidation. Morphology, structure, and optical properties of Au/TiO2-CCBs have been investigated through scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectrometer, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV–vis Diffused reflectance spectra, and electron spin resonance (ESR). The fabricated Au/TiO2-CCBs exhibited superior photocatalytic performance, by demonstrating approx. 92% of TYL was decomposed in 180 min under visible light irradiation. However, the catalyst exhibited modest adsorption behavior. The enhanced photocatalytic activity for Au/TiO2-CCBs was attributed to the separation of photoinduced electron−hole pairs. The radical capture test and ESR experiment confirmed that ∙O2−, ∙OH, and h+ radicals were formed during the TYL degradation process. In addition, the stability of the Au/TiO2-CCBs was demonstrated by a steady photocatalytic performance after five cycles during the application. Therefore, this work indicated that the Au/TiO2-CCBs catalyst had an excellent prospect for environmental remediation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]