Sustainable <scp>TiO<sub>2</sub></scp>/<i>Diospyros texana</i> seed‐derived activated carbon composites for rapid photodegradation of oxytetracycline and amoxicillin under visible light
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract Background The widespread occurrence of antibiotics in aquatic environments has emerged as a serious environmental concern due to their persistence, bioaccumulation, and role in promoting antimicrobial resistance. Conventional treatment methods are often inadequate for complete antibiotic removal. Thus, developing multifunctional, sustainable materials capable of both adsorption and degradation is essential for effective water treatment. Results This study introduces a novel titanium dioxide (TiO2)/activated carbon (AC) composite synthesized from Diospyros texana seed biomass for efficient removal of oxytetracycline (OTC) and amoxycillin (AMX). The optimized 10 wt% TiO2/AC composite, prepared via an impregnation method, exhibited enhanced visible‐light photocatalytic activity and adsorption capacity. Structural characterization confirmed well‐dispersed TiO2 nanoparticles within the macroporous AC framework, promoting effective light harvesting, charge separation, and contaminant binding. The composite demonstrated thermal stability and a point of zero charge of 7.8, facilitating pH‐dependent interactions with AMX and OTC. Under optimal conditions (pH 3 for AMX, pH 7 for OTC, 0.1 g/L composite), the system achieved rapid removal (> 90%), equilibrium within 3 min for AMX and 5 min for OTC. Performance remained stable for over 180 min and showed no significant decline even after five reuse cycles. However, increasing TiO2 beyond 10% reduced efficiency due to pore blockage and loss of active surface area. Conclusion The synergistic integration of bio‐derived AC and TiO2 yields a cost‐effective material for efficient antibiotic removal from water. Overall, this study offers a scalable strategy for wastewater remediation, addressing critical environmental challenges posed by pharmaceutical contaminants through rapid degradation within minutes. © 2025 Society of Chemical Industry (SCI).
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".