Ternary TiO₂ Nanocomposite for Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation of Metronidazole in Pharmaceutical Wastewater

Ternary TiO₂ Nanocomposite for Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation of Metronidazole in Pharmaceutical Wastewater | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Ternary TiO₂ Nanocomposite for Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation of Metronidazole in Pharmaceutical Wastewater Noha I. Abdelaziz, Medhat A. Al-Ghobashy, Marianne Nebsen, Ahmed H. Nadim This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8492490/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Pharmaceutical residues in aquatic environments pose significant environmental and public health risks due to their persistence and contribution to antimicrobial resistance. In this work, a ternary TiO₂/ZnO/SnO₂ nanocomposite was synthesized via a facile and scalable two-step co-precipitation method using commercially available P25 TiO₂ nanoparticles. The structural, morphological, and surface properties of the synthesized nanocomposite were characterized using XRD, SEM, TEM, and XPS analyses, confirming the successful formation of a well-integrated heterojunction. The photocatalytic performance of the TiO₂/ZnO/SnO₂ nanocomposite was evaluated for the degradation of metronidazole (MNZ) under UV irradiation. The effects of operational parameters including catalyst dosage, initial MNZ concentration, solution pH, and irradiation time were systematically investigated. Under optimized conditions (MNZ concentration 20 µg/mL, catalyst loading 0.5 mg/mL, pH 7.0, irradiation time 120 min), the nanocomposite achieved up to 90% degradation efficiency, outperforming commercial TiO₂ nanoparticles under identical conditions. Application to real pharmaceutical wastewater resulted in 76% MNZ removal, demonstrating the practical applicability of the developed system. The enhanced photocatalytic performance is attributed to improved charge separation within the ternary heterojunction, reducing electron–hole recombination. The use of commercially available TiO₂ and a simple synthesis route highlights the potential of this approach for cost-effective and scalable pharmaceutical wastewater treatment. Photocatalysis antibiotic resistance TiO2 and metronidazole Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SupplementaryFileMNZ.docx Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8492490","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":575912740,"identity":"026d88fd-0895-431c-b7e1-fbd7e50e6690","order_by":0,"name":"Noha I. Abdelaziz","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Cairo University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Noha","middleName":"I.","lastName":"Abdelaziz","suffix":""},{"id":575912741,"identity":"cc51b68b-6f2d-480e-b244-2c84601f244b","order_by":1,"name":"Medhat A. 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Wastewater","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Photocatalysis, antibiotic resistance, TiO2, and 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In this work, a ternary TiO₂/ZnO/SnO₂ nanocomposite was synthesized via a facile and scalable two-step co-precipitation method using commercially available P25 TiO₂ nanoparticles. The structural, morphological, and surface properties of the synthesized nanocomposite were characterized using XRD, SEM, TEM, and XPS analyses, confirming the successful formation of a well-integrated heterojunction. The photocatalytic performance of the TiO₂/ZnO/SnO₂ nanocomposite was evaluated for the degradation of metronidazole (MNZ) under UV irradiation. The effects of operational parameters including catalyst dosage, initial MNZ concentration, solution pH, and irradiation time were systematically investigated. Under optimized conditions (MNZ concentration 20 \u0026micro;g/mL, catalyst loading 0.5 mg/mL, pH 7.0, irradiation time 120 min), the nanocomposite achieved up to 90% degradation efficiency, outperforming commercial TiO₂ nanoparticles under identical conditions. Application to real pharmaceutical wastewater resulted in 76% MNZ removal, demonstrating the practical applicability of the developed system. The enhanced photocatalytic performance is attributed to improved charge separation within the ternary heterojunction, reducing electron\u0026ndash;hole recombination. The use of commercially available TiO₂ and a simple synthesis route highlights the potential of this approach for cost-effective and scalable pharmaceutical wastewater treatment.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Ternary TiO₂ Nanocomposite for Enhanced Photocatalytic Degradation of Metronidazole in Pharmaceutical Wastewater","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-01-19 08:54:52","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8492490/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"d2bf2a49-48df-4b88-93d3-1095d5268193","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 19th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-03-25T09:41:01+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-01-19 08:54:52","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8492490","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8492490","identity":"rs-8492490","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}