Removal of Antibiotic Rifampicin from Water Using PLA/TiO₂ Photocatalytic Microsponges

There is a growing demand to develop water treatment strategies that use materials capable of efficiently removing antibiotics from wastewater. Herein, we report hybrid adsorptive-photocatalytic polymer-based materials with high antibiotic-removal capacity. Poly-(lactic acid)/titanium dioxide (PLA/TiO₂) composite microparticles were synthesized via emulsification and a sol-gel approach under mild reaction conditions, and their adsorptive-photocatalytic performance for the removal of the antibiotic rifampicin (RIF) from water was investigated. The adsorption capacities of mixed (crystalline TiO₂) and grown (amorphous/crystalline TiO₂) PLA/TiO₂ microparticles were 2.03 ± 0.16 and 17.51 ± 0.40 mg g^-1, respectively. The adsorption kinetics of RIF by the mixed and grown microparticles were assessed by simulating various adsorption kinetic models. The adsorptive-photocatalytic removal of RIF reached 39 ± 1 and 78 ± 1% after 6 h of UV exposure for mixed and grown microparticles, respectively. This study provides insights into developing polymer-based composites with adsorptive-photocatalytic performance for the efficient removal of antibiotics under solar irradiation.