@article{
author = "Armaković,Sanja J. and Jovanoski Kostić,Aleksandra and Bilić,Andrijana and Savanović,Maria M. and Tomić,Nataša and Kremenović,Aleksandar and Šćepanović,Maja and Grujić-Brojčin,Mirjana and Ćirković, Jovana and Armaković,Stevan",
year = "2023",
abstract = "Due to the inability of conventional wastewater treatment procedures to remove organic
pharmaceutical pollutants, active pharmaceutical components remain in wastewater and even reach
tap water. In terms of pharmaceutical pollutants, the scientific community focuses on -blockers due
to their extensive (over)usage and moderately high solubility. In this study, the photocatalytic activity
of V2O5 was investigated through the degradation of nadolol (NAD), pindolol (PIN), metoprolol
(MET), and their mixture under ultraviolet (UV) irradiation in water. For the preparation of V2O5,
facile hydrothermal synthesis was used. The structural, morphological, and surface properties
and purity of synthesized V2O5 powder were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM),
X-ray, and Raman spectroscopy. SEM micrographs showed hexagonal-shaped platelets with welldefined
morphology of materials with diameters in the range of 10–65 μm and thickness of around
a few microns. X-ray diffraction identified only one crystalline phase in the sample. The Raman
scattering measurements taken on the catalyst confirmed the result of XRPD. Degradation kinetics
were monitored by ultra-fast liquid chromatography with diode array detection. The results showed
that in individual solutions, photocatalytic degradation of MET and NAD was relatively insignificant
(<10%). However, in the PIN case, the degradation was significant (64%). In the mixture, the
photodegradation efficiency of MET and NAD slightly increased (15% and 13%). Conversely, it
reduced the PIN to the still satisfactory value of 40%. Computational analysis based on molecular and
periodic density functional theory calculations was used to complement our experimental findings.
Calculations of the average local ionization energy indicate that the PIN is the most reactive of all
three considered molecules in terms of removing an electron from it.",
publisher = "MDPI",
journal = "Molecules",
title = "Photocatalytic Activity of the V2O5 Catalyst toward Selected
Pharmaceuticals and Their Mixture: Influence of the Molecular
Structure on the Efficiency of the Process",
pages = "18-1",
volume = "28",
doi = "10.3390/molecules28020655"
}