Supporting information for:

N, Cu co-doped TiO2@functionalized SWCNT photocatalyst coupled with ultrasound and

UV waves: An effective sono-photocatalysis process into treatment of pharmaceutical

wastewaters

Ali Akbar Isari1, Farzan Hayati2, Babak Kakavandi3, 4, 1, Mohammad Rostami2 , Mohsen

Motevassel2, Emad Dehghanifard3, 4

1. Department of Basic and Applied Sciences for Engineering, SAPIENZA University of Rome, Italy

2. Department of Chemical Engineering, Abadan Faculty of Petroleum Engineering, Petroleum University of Technology, Abadan, Iran

3. Research Center for Health, Safety and Environment, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran

4. Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran

2.6 Sono-photocatalytic experiment set-up and procedure

To determine the pHZPC of catalysts, 50 mL of 0.01 M NaCl solution was prepared in a closed

Erlenmeyer flask at ambient temperature. Nitrogen gas was bubbled through the prepared

solution to prevent CO2 dissolution and pH stabilization. The initial pH of the NaCl solution was

adjusted in the range of 1 to 13 using a 0.1 M solution of HCl and 0.1 M NaOH. Next, 0.15 g of

MCs was added to the prepared solution, and then the mixture was shaken at 250 rpm. After 24

h, the pH of the final solution was measured, and a plot comparing pHfinal and pHinitial levels was

drawn. The pHZPC is the point where pHfinal is equal to pHinitial.

1 Corresponding author at: Research Center for Health, Safety and Environment, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran E-mail address: kakavandibvch@gmail.com (B. Kakavandi).

Mineralization of SMXZ:

In order to evaluate the potential of the NCuTFC sonophotocatalyst for mineralization of SMXZ,

TOC removal ratio was checked with SMXZ decontamination rate during the process at

optimum operational conditions (pH of 6, catalyst dosage of 0.8 g/L, light intensity of 200 W,

US power intensity of 200 W, and SMXZ initial concentration of 60 mg/L within 60 min).

Fig.S4 represents the SMXZ decomposition rate and TOC removal rate for various reaction

times. As can be seen, SMXZ degradation rate reached 100% after 60 min, while the TOC

removal rate goes to 45% at the same time. This attributed to the fact that although a content of

SMXZ molecules decomposed to water and carbon dioxide molecules, some of them mineralized

to other organic intermediates.

Supplementary Table and Figures:

Table.S1 Chemical structure and properties of SMXZ

Properties Sulfamethoxazole

IUPAC Name 4-amino-N-(5-methyl-1,2-oxazol-3-yl)benzenesulfonamide

Chemical formula C10H11N3O3S

MW 253.276 g/mol

CID number 5329

LD50 oral (mouse) 2,650 mg/Kg

Chemical structure

λmax (nm) 271

Table S2 the details and applications of characterization techniques

Technique Apparatus Company, Model and product country Application

Raman Teksan Takram P50C0R10 (Iran) To determine the

structural properties of

catalysts

XRD Philips PW1730 (Netherlands) To determine the

structural properties of

specimens

FT-IR Bruker VERTEX70 (Germany) To determine vibration

and stretching bonds

existed in the samples

FESEM TESCAN Mira3 (Czech) To determine

Morphological properties

of nanostructures

TEM Philips CM120 (Netherland) To determine

morphological properties

of nanostructures

EDS Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometer To elemental analysis of

samples

TGA Mettler-Toledo TGA/ SDTA851e (Netherlands) To determine thermal

stability of samples

BET Belsorp-mini II (Japan) To determine textural

features of catalysts

EIS Princeton Research VMP3 EG&G (USA) To determine the

separation efficacy of

charge carriers

PL Perkin Elmer LS 55 (USA) To determine the efficacy

of charge carriers transfer

and trapping

UV-Vis

DRS

Avantes Avaspec-2048-TEC (Netherland) To determine optical

features of samples

Table S3 Pseudo-first order kinetic parameters of SMXZ degradation

Kinetic modelInitial concentration

(mg/L)

Regression

coefficient (R2)Rate constant (min-1)

Pseudo-First-Order

ln[Ct/C0]=-kt

60 0.9878 0.0512

75 0.9732 0.035

90 0.9867 0.0275

Fig S1 BJH patterns of T, NCuT, and NCuTFC

Fig.S2 Size distribution of T, NCuT and NCuTFC

Fig S3 EDS mapping of a) Ti, b) O, c) C, d) N, e) Cu in the NCuTFC composite.

Fig S4 XRD pattern of NCuTFC before and after 6 cycles.

Fig S5 Comparison of the SMXZ and TOC removal by NCuTFC sono-photocatalysis process.

Fig S6 TOC removal from pharmaceutical wastewater by NCuTFC sono-photocatalysis process.

Fig S7 COD removal from pharmaceutical wastewater by NCuTFC sono-photocatalysis process.

Fig.S8 comparison studies of different process for decontamination of SMXZ

TC removal (%)