Microwave-Assisted Degradation of Paracetamol Drug Using Polythiophene-Sensitized Ag-AgO Heterogeneous Photocatalyst Derived from Plant Extract.

Ag-AgO nanoparticles were synthesized using plant extract. The nanoparticles were sensitized with polythiophene (PTh) and were characterized via scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive X-ray and elemental mapping, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier-transform infrared, and UV-vis spectroscopy analyses. The elemental mapping results revealed that the samples were composed of C, S, Ag, and O elements which were uniformly distributed in the nanohybrid. XRD analysis confirmed the crystalline nature of Ag-AgO nanoparticles, and the average particle size was found to be ranging between 36 and 40 nm. The optical band gap of Ag-AgO, PTh, and Ag-AgO/PTh was found to be 2.49, 1.1, 1.5, and 0.68 eV. The catalytic activity of Ag-AgO, PTh, and Ag-AgO/PTh was investigated by degrading paracetamol drug under microwave irradiation. Around 80% of degradation was achieved during 20 min irradiation. All degradation kinetics were fitted to the pseudo-first-order model. A probable degradation pathway for paracetamol degradation was proposed based on liquid chromatography mass spectrometry analysis of degraded fragments.