Iron‐Doped Silica Nanoparticles: A Sustainable Photocatalyst for the Degradation of Emerging Pollutants

The widespread use and improper disposal of pharmaceutical compounds pose severe risks to both human health and aquatic ecosystems. Indeed, they can be found in freshwater bodies and are a cause of concern since they hardly undergo any degradation process. In this study, we propose the use of silica‐based materials to photodegrade one of these compounds, furosemide. The reactivity of three silica materials with different morphologies (compact nanoparticles and two mesoporous nanoparticles with different porosities) has been tested under irradiation at 330 nm at three pHs. To enhance catalytic performance, the optimal silica morphology was subsequently doped with iron via a straightforward calcination protocol, yielding two modified materials with distinct iron concentrations. To gain a deeper understanding of what are the defects on the surface of silica that allow it to improve its reactivity, the prepared materials are characterized by means of SEM, zeta potential measurement, and reflectance and emission spectroscopies.