Penicillin G is an old and widely used antibiotic. Its persistence in the environment started to appear in many environmental samples and food chains. The removal of these emerging pollutants has been a challenging task for scientists in the last decades. The photocatalytic properties of Cd2+ doped Manganese- Zinc NSFs with chemical formula (Mn0.5Zn0.5)[CdxFe2-x]O4 (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.05) NSFs are herein evaluated. The Manganese- Zinc N.S.F.s nanomaterials were deeply characterized, utilizing UV-Vis (reflectance) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, N2 adsorption isotherm measurements, and S.E.M., SEM-EDX mapping, and T.E.M. The Kinetic model for the photodegradation of penicillin G (as a model molecule) is investigated using visible light as a source of energy. The kinetic study shows that our results fit well with the modified pseudo-first-order model. The Pen G degradation are 88.73%, 66.65%, 44.70%, 37.62% and 24.68% for x = 0.5, 0.4, 0.3, 0.2 and 0.1, respectively, against 14.68% for the free Cd spinel sample. The pseudo-rate constant is bandgap dependent. From the intra-diffusion rate constant (Kd), we developed an intra-diffusion time (τ) model, which decreases exponentially as a function of (x) and mainly shows the existence of three different domains versus cadmium coordination in spinel ferrite samples. Hence, Cadmium's presence generates spontaneous polarization with a strong opportunity to monitor the charge separation and then open the route to a new generation of "assisted" photocatalysts under visible light.
Keywords: emerging pollutants; kinetic modeling; mixed spinel ferrites; nanoparticles; penicillin; photodegradation; wastewater.