Antibiotics in water are poisonous, non-biological degradable, and causes drug resistance. The biological treatment method is not suitable for antibiotics removal from water due to their antibacterial property. Nowadays, the photocatalytic method is interested for the treatment of the water polluted with antibiotics. In this work, the photocatalyst of CuO/ZnO was prepared using Zn foils and Cu(NO3)2 solution for the removal of ciprofloxacin antibiotic from water. The SEM and XRD techniques were used for the catalyst characterization. The SEM images showed the growth of ZnO nanowires. The XRD patterns confirmed the existence of CuO and ZnO. The photocatalytic activity of the synthesized CuO/ZnO photocatalyst was studied for the degradation of ciprofloxacin wastewater. The kinetics of the photocatalytic degradation reactions were obeyed pseudo first order under UV irradiation. The apparent rate constant of CuO/ZnO (0.0202 min-1) was larger than ZnO (0.011 min-1) which shows the doping effect of CuO. The removal of ciprofloxacin from water at dark condition can be assigned to adsorption process.
