Pharmaceuticals such as antibiotics are not removed from wastewater by conventional biological methods due to their antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and also toxic effects on ecosystem. One of the most effective methods for removal of antibiotics is photocatalysis. In this work, a new photocatalyst, brass doped with nickel oxide was used to degrade tetracycline antibiotic wastewater. This photocatalyst was prepared by the calcination of the brass foil to grow the nanowires; and then doped with NiO. In comparison with the powder photocatalyst. Foil has the advantage of easy separation from water. The synthesized NiO/Brass foil photocatalyst was characterized by ICP, EDAX, and SEM. Thr results of EDAX confirmed the existence of nickel on the surface of the photocatalyst. By SEM, the hexagonal straucture of the nanowires was observable. The kinetics of the tetracycline photodegradation was studied; and the results showed that the second order kinetics was best fitted to the experimental data. The kinetic constants were 0.0265 min-1, and 0.0204 min-1 for NiO/Brass, and calcinated brass; respectively. The larger reaction kinetic constant of NiO/Brass showed that it is more efficient for tetracycline photodegradation under UV irradiation.
