Design a new photocatalyst of sea sediment/titanate to remove cephalexin antibiotic from aqueous media in the presence of sonication/ultraviolet/hydrogen peroxide: Pathway and mechanism for degradation.

The aim of the current study was directed to develop a new sea sediment/titanate photocatalyst to remove cephalexin from aqueous media in the presence of ultraviolet (UV) light, hydrogen peroxide (HO), and ultrasonic waves. The influence of furnace temperature (300, 350, 400, and 500 °C), furnace residence time (1, 2, 3, and 4 h), and ratio of sea sediment: titanium (0-6 v: w) on the physicochemical properties and the cephalexin removal by the sea sediment/titanate photocatalyst was explored. The technique of FTIR, SEM/EDX, XRD, BET, BJH, and Mapping was used to determine the physicochemical properties of the generated photocatalyst. The maximum cephalexin removal (94.71%) was obtained at the furnace temperature of 500 °C, the furnace residence time of 2 h, and the sea sediment: titanium ratio of 1:6 (=12 mL TiO/2 g sea sediment). According to the acquired results, the surface area of the optimized catalyst, namely Cat-500-2-12, was computed to be 52.29 m/g. The crystallite size of titanium oxide on the optimum photocatalyst was calculated ~17.68 nm. The FTIR test confirmed the presence of C=C, O-H, C=O, C-S, and C-H functional groups in the photocatalyst. The transformation pathway for the degradation of cephalexin by the developed system was drawn. The present investigation showed that the developed technique (sea sediment/titanate-UV-HO-ultrasonic) could be used as a promising alternative for attenuating cephalexin from aqueous solutions.