Ag-Decorated Iron Oxides-Silica Magnetic Nanocomposites with Antimicrobial and Photocatalytic Activity

• Published in: Nanomaterials (Basel, Switzerland) Switzerland), 2022-12, Vol.12 (24), p.4452
• Main Authors: Muşat, Viorica, Crintea Căpăţână, Lenuța, Anghel, Elena-Maria, Stănică, Nicolae, Atkinson, Irina, Culiţă, Daniela Cristina, Baroiu, Liliana, Țigău, Nicolae, Cantaragiu Ceoromila, Alina, Botezatu Dediu, Andreea-Veronica, Carp, Oana
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ag-decorated; Antibacterial activity; antimicrobial; Antimicrobial activity; Biocompatibility; Biodegradability; Biodegradation; Catalytic activity; co-precipitation; Correlation coefficient; Correlation coefficients; Decoration; Glass substrates; Iron oxides; iron oxides-silica composite; Irradiation; Magnetite; Membrane separation; Metal oxides; Metals; Methods; Methylene blue; Microorganisms; Morphology; Nanocomposites; Nanoparticles; Nanotechnology; Photocatalysis; Photovoltaic cells; Radiation; Raman spectroscopy; Scanning electron microscopy; Silica; Silicon dioxide; Silver; Sodium; Spectroscopy; Spectrum analysis; superparamagnetic nanoparticles; Synthesis; Toxicity; Ultrasonic imaging; ultrasound-assisted sol-gel; Ultraviolet radiation; X-ray diffraction; Zinc oxide
• ISSN: 2079-4991; 2079-4991
• DOI: 10.3390/nano12244452

Nanotechnology offers unlimited possibilities for creating effective hybrid materials, which combine functional performance in environment depollution and antimicrobial defense with a lack of toxicity, biocompatibility, biodegradability, and natural availability. This paper presents the silver effect on photocatalytic and antibacterial activities of double-coated iron oxide nanoparticles (NPs), Fe O @SiO /ZnO-Ag. The structural, morphological, and textural information of the, core-shell iron oxides-based superparamagnetic nanoparticles (IOMNPs) decorated with 5% Ag by ultrasound-assisted synthesis were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDX), X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller physisorption measurements. Although two synthesis temperatures of 95 and 80 °C were used for the co-precipitated iron oxide cores, the XRD patterns revealed the formation of a single magnetite, Fe O , phase. The sorption-photocatalytic activities under dark and UV irradiation encountered a maximum removal efficiency of the MB (90.47%) for the Fe O @SiO /ZnO-Ag sample with iron oxide core obtained at 80 °C. The rate constant for the second-order kinetics was 0.0711 min for 2 h, and the correlation coefficient R closed to unity. Two samples with Ag-decorated hybrid SiO /ZnO shell and hierarchically interconnected porous structure with large surface area (328.8 and 342.5 m g ) exhibited the best disk diffusion antimicrobial activity against four microorganisms, especially gram-positive .