A TiO₂/GO/CuFe₂O₄ heterostructure photocatalyst is fabricated by a simple and low cost ball milling pathway for enhancing the photocatalytic degradation of chlorinated pesticides under UV light irradiation.

For applications involving water cleanup, metal oxide nanoparticles are exceptionally successful. They are useful for the adsorption and photocatalytic destruction of organic pollutants due to their distinctive qualities, which include their wide surface/volume area, high number of active sites, porous structure, stability, recovery, and low toxicity. Metal oxide nanomaterials have drawn a lot of attention from researchers in the past ten years because of their various production pathways, simplicity in surface modification, abundance, and inexpensive cost. A wide range of metal oxides, such as iron oxides, MgO, TiO₂, ZnO, WO₃, CuO, Cu₂O, metal oxides composites, and graphene–metal oxides composites, with variable structural, crystalline, and morphological features, are reviewed, emphasizing the recent development, challenges, and opportunities for adsorptive removal and photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants such as dyes, pesticides, phenolic compounds, and so on. In-depth study of the photocatalytic mechanism of metal oxides, their composites, and photocatalytically important characteristics is also covered in this paper. Metal oxides are particularly effective photocatalysts for the degradation of organic pollutants due to their high photodegradation efficiency, economically sound methods for producing photo-catalytic materials, and precise band-gap engineering. Due to their detrimental effects on human health, pesticides—one of the highly hazardous organic pollutants—play a significant part in environmental contamination. Depending on where they come from and who they are targeting, they are categorized in various ways. Researchers focusing on metal oxides and their composites for the adsorptive and photocatalytic degradation of pesticides would find the review to be a beneficial resource. Detailed information on many pesticides, difficulties associated with pesticides, environmental concentration, and the necessity of degradation has been presented.

A facile eco-friendly approach for acetampirid pesticide removal is presented. The method is based on the use of micro- and mesoporous activated carbon (TPAC) as a natural adsorbent. TPAC was synthesized via chemical treatment of tangerine peels with phosphoric acid. The prepared activated carbon was characterized before and after the adsorption process using Fourier- transform infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), particle size and surface area. The effects of various parameters on the adsorption of acetampirid including adsorbent dose (0.02–0.2 g), pH 2–8, initial adsorbate concentration (10–100 mg/L), contact time (10–300 min) and temperature (25–50 °C) were studied. Batch adsorption features were evaluated using Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms. The adsorption process followed the Langmuir isotherm model with a maximum adsorption capacity of 35.7 mg/g and an equilibration time within 240 min. The adsorption kinetics of acetamiprid was fitted to the pseudo-second-order kinetics model. From the thermodynamics perspective, the adsorption was found to be exothermic and spontaneous in nature. TPAC was successfully regenerated and reused for three consecutive cycles. The results of the presented study show that TPAC may be used as an effective eco-friendly, low cost and highly efficient adsorbent for the removal of acetamiprid pesticides from aqueous solutions.