Template free zinc vanadate flower synthesis, characterization and efficiency for cetirizine-dihydrochloride degradation under UV light irradiation

Abstract Zinc vanadate flower (ZVF) was synthesized through template free self-assembly route and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray, Zeta potential and UV–visible spectroscopy. The possible growth mechanism was proposed and cetirizine dihydrochloride (C-HCl) was treated to evaluate the photocatalytic activity (PCA) of 3D-ZVF as a function of catalyst dose, pH, light exposure time and C-HCl initial concentration. Response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize the process variable. For the initial C-HCl concentration of 10 mg/L, up to 87% degradation was achieved using 500 mg/L catalyst dose at pH 6 under 120 min UV light exposure. The model developed for the degradation of C-HCl furnished a satisfactory correlation between predicted and experimental degradation of C-HCl with very low residual values. In response of C-HCl degradation, the water quality parameters improved significantly. In view of promising PCA for the degradation of C-HCL, as-synthesized 3D-ZVF could be a potential candidate for the degradation of emerging toxic agents from pharmaceutical industries.