An investigation of the photocatalytic activity of nano α-Fe2O3/ZnO on the photodegradation of cefixime trihydrate

•ZnO/α-Fe2O3 nanosheets were synthesized via a simple method.•The photocatalytic activity was investigated on cefixime trihydrate degradation.•Under the optimum condition, maximum degradation was reached to 99.1%.•The predicted model has a good agreement with experimental data with R2 = 0.9937.

ZnO/α-Fe2O3 nanosheets were synthesized via a total reflux and hydrothermal methods. XRD pattern analysis showed that a hexagonal structure and nano-sized crystallites with a mean size of about 35 nm. The photocatalytic activity was investigated on the photo-degradation of cefixime trihydrate drug in the aqueous solution under UV-vis irradiation. Under the optimized conditions, the maximum degradation efficiency was reached at 99.1% and the optimum values were found to be 0.41 g·L−1, 10.11 mg·L−1, 8 W·m−2 and 127 min for ZnO/α-Fe2O3 concentration, cefixime trihydrate concentration, UV-vis light intensity and irradiation time, respectively.