Photocatalytic and antibacterial activity of PVA mediated Zinc–Zirconium ferrite composites

摘要

? 2022 Elsevier Ltd and Techna Group S.r.l.In this work, Novel zinc-zirconium ferrite (ZnFe2O4/ZrFe2O5) composite and Zinc ferrite/zirconia (ZnFe2O4/ZrO2) composite were synthesized via coprecipitation technique using Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) as surfactant. The crystalline structures of the samples were revealed by X-ray diffraction technique. The crystallite sizes were in the range of 50–70 nm. The morphology and elemental composition were studied using scanning electron microscopy, where the zinc ferrite had a truncated octahedral structure with zirconium ferrite decorated on it. The optical properties analyzed through diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and photoluminescence spectroscopy revealed that the samples had good UV and Visible light responses and had oxygen vacancies. The oxygen vacancies enhanced the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue studied under sunlight and halogen lamp. The vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) analysis corroborates the ferrimagnetic nature of the composites. The antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was also examined and compared with the commercial antibiotic, amikacin, and other ferrite-composites reported.