REMOVAL
OF TETRACYCLINE FROM WATER WITH FLUORESCENT N-DOPED CARBON DOTS PRODUCED BY Acacia
tortilis SEEDS
Authors Jumanah Channam and
Afrah E. Mohammed*
Received 1 October 2023
Accepted for publication 10 November 2023
Published 19 December 2023 Volume 1:1 Pages 22—34
Checked for plagiarism Yes
Peer reviewer comments 2
Department of Biology, College of
Science, Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh 11671, Saudi
Arabia
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Abstract
Tetracyclines
are ranked as the second most used antibiotics worldwide and pose significant
risks to human health and the environment when present in aquatic locations.
The current study investigated the application of nitrogen-doped carbon dots
(N-CDs) to remove tetracyclines (Doxycycline and Oxytetracycline) from aqueous
solution. The N-CDs were derived from Acacia tortilis seed
extract and applied at different concentrations (10, 20, 30 mg/ mL) to water
samples containing 10 mg/mL of antibiotic. The effectiveness of this treatment
was evaluated over periods of 16 and 24 hours using a UV-visible
spectrophotometer. Characterization of the N-CDs was conducted through UV,
Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), dynamic light scattering (DLS),
transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray
spectroscopy (EDX). The results revealed that N-CDs produced from A.
tortilis seed extract were of high quality, where the UV-Vis spectral
profile showed peaks ranging from 251–293 nm and an average ζ-potential of -31.6 mV.
FTIR indicated functional groups at peaks of 3300 cm-1 and 1631 cm-1
that corresponded to O-H and C=C. Such N-CDs revealed removal efficiencies for
doxycycline and oxytetracycline, which reached 8.98% and 19.5%, respectively,
with the highest efficiency observed at 30 mg/ mL concentration after 24 hours.
N-CDs' ability to remove antibiotics from water is time- and
concentration-dependent. This research demonstrates a promising, eco-friendly
approach for mitigating antibiotic pollution in an aqueous solution,
contributing to developing effective water treatment technologies.
Keywords Carbon
dots, Nanofabrication, Green one-pot synthesis, Acacia tortilis, Doxycycline, Oxytetracycline
