Photocatalytic treatment of industrial effluent containing clopidogrel using europium doped TiO 2 thin films under solar irradiation

Europium doped titanium dioxide thin films were synthesized by sol–gel method to enhance the photocatalytic activity and achieve efficient treatment for industrial pharmaceutical effluent, under solar irradiation. Thin films were characterized by X-ray diffraction technique. X-ray diffraction pattern demonstrate that both pure and europium doped titanium dioxide thin films exhibit anatase phase of tetragonal structure. The crystallite size of europium doped titanium dioxide was reduced from 38.40 to 11.32 nm with an increase in europium doping percentage. Also, the thickness of the deposited films was in the range of 33.95–44.21 μm. The reflectance spectra change with dopant and the band gap values were gradually decrease from 3.75 to 3.5 eV with doping concentration increment. Further photocatalytic performances of europium doped titanium dioxide thin films for the remediation of a local industrial effluent were also investigated. The concentration of dopant was varied from 0 to 0.28 mol%. The results showed that 91% of the chemical oxygen demand was reduced. Moreover, the mineralization yield was achieved 95%, with 0.13 mol% of europium doped titanium dioxide, after 6 h under solar irradiation, confirming the efficiency of the europium doped titanium dioxide photocatalytic process.