Photo-Induced Degradation of Sulfamerazine Using Green-Synthesized Thermally Stable Novel OE/PE-γ-Al2O3 Nanoparticles and the Formulation of Highly Selective CO Formation Through CO2 Photoreduction: Reaction Kinetics using RSM-CCD Model

Abstract

Nanostructured alumina, particularly gamma-alumina (γ-Al₂O₃), has attracted significant attention recently due to its high surface area, tunable porosity, and excellent catalytic properties. Its unique structural features make it a fitting material for environmental remediation and energy conversion applications, including photocatalytic degradation of organic contaminants and CO₂ photoreduction under light irradiation. Here in this work, a green route was adopted to synthesize γ-Al2O3 nanoparticles, and their characterization was done by DLS, zeta potential, FTIR, XRD, SEM, TEM, AFM, and XPS analysis. After analyzing the structural features, the nanoparticles were subjected to the determination of identified reaction parameters by implementing the “Response surface methodology (RSM-CCD) model”. The results concluded that 95.62% of sulfamerazine was degraded within the time interval of 60 min. The optimized reaction parameter values were Time = 39 min, Temperature = 32 °C, Al2O3 NPs dosage = 60 mg, and SMZ dosage = 34 mg/L. Later, the photo-induced potential of the synthesized nanoparticles was prolonged for the photoreduction conversion of CO2 to produce CO, where an exceptional amount of CO2 (86.37 μmol g−1 h−1) was found to be converted to its aimed by-product. These outstanding results are directed at the broad-spectrum potential of the fabricated nanoparticles for environmental remediation and renewable energy.