Enhanced Photodegradation of Sulfamethoxazole Through Cutting-Edge Titania-Zirconia-Based Materials Bensmaine, Zineb El Korso, Sanaa Moral-Rodríguez, Adriana Isabel Bedrane, Sumeya Ziani-Cherif, Chewki Pérez Cadenas, Agustín Francisco Carrasco-Marín, Francisco Bailón-García, Esther zirconia titania photocatalysis ZrO2, TiO2, ZrO2-TiO2, and TiO2-ZrO2 were successfully prepared using the sol–gel method and fully characterized to check their physico-chemical features. X-ray diffraction showed the co-existence of monoclinic and tetragonal ZrO2 in addition to the Anatase phase for TiO2. The formation of mixed oxides led to a reduction in the band gap values and a modification of the textural characteristics, while the XPS evidenced an oxygen vacancy-rich surface. The ability of the synthesized materials to eliminate drug contaminants was checked using Sulfamethoxazole (SMX) as a model molecule under UV and BLUE-LED irradiation. The materials’ potential to decrease wastewater toxicity was also studied. The best photocatalyst was TiO2-ZrO2 with 76 and 100% conversion under visible and UV irradiation, respectively. 2024-12-10T11:11:00Z 2024-12-10T11:11:00Z 2024-11-05 journal article Bensmaine, Z. et. al. Catalysts 2024, 14, 784. [https://doi.org/10.3390/catal14110784] https://hdl.handle.net/10481/97807 10.3390/catal14110784 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ open access Atribución 4.0 Internacional MDPI