Comprehensive analysis of NiFe2O4/MWCNTs nanocomposite to degrade a healthcare waste - tetracycline

Tetracycline (TC), a commonly used antibiotic for studying bacterial illnesses in living organisms, poses a significant risk to the aquatic environment. Despite various conventional methods having been attempted to remove TC antibiotics from water solutions, they have not proven effective. Consequently, the focus of the research is on the photocatalytic degradation of TC. According to the research, MWCNTs were successfully incorporated into NiFe2O4 nanoparticles, which reduced the pace at which charge carriers recombined after joining with MWCNTs. Subsequently, the catalyst's efficacy was assessed in a batch reactor by analyzing the weight percentage change of the nanocomposite, the initial concentration of TC antibiotics, the effects of pH and contact time. The identical operational parameters were employed to investigate the degradation of TC using NiFe2O4 and MWCNTs as individual pure materials. The findings indicated that the photocatalytic process using NiFe2O4/MWCNTs achieved a degradation efficiency of 95.8% for TC at a pH value of 9. This result was obtained after a reaction time of 120 minutes, the concentration of TC solution was 10 mg L-1, with a nanocomposite dose of 0.6 g L-1 of TN 04 and 120 W m-2. The pseudo-first-order approach was used to estimate the rate at which TC degrades. After four consecutive uses, it was observed that the photocatalysts maintained their original properties, with only a slight decrease of approximately 2.4% in the removal efficiency. The study demonstrated that the NiFe2O4/MWCNTs nanocomposite exhibited considerable efficiency in degrading TC. Due to its simple manufacture and useful recovery, it has the potential to function well as a catalyst for the removal and degradation of pharmaceutical organic contaminants.

Structural, optical and antibacterial activity of pure and co-doped (Fe & Ni) tin oxide nanoparticles

In this investigation, ferric (Fe) and nickel (Ni) co-doped tin oxide (SnO₂) nanoparticles structural, optical, morphological, and antibacterial characteristics were synthesised, characterised, and examined. By employing SnCl₂·2H₂O and the transition metal precursors FeCl₃ and NiCl₂·6H₂O with various Fe/Ni molar ratios, thermal annealing was carried out at a high temperature (700 °C). X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV-Visible spectroscopy, Photoluminescence (PL), FT-IR, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray techniques (EDX) were used to examine the materials' structural, chemical, optical, morphological, and anti-microbial capabilities. The average particle size of pure and co-doped SnO₂ nanoparticles was determined to be around 52 nm and 15 nm, and SnO₂ crystallites were observed to present tetragonal rutile structure with space group P_42/mmm (No.136). Metal ions were replaced in the Sn lattice, as shown by Fe and Ni co-doped SnO₂ nanoparticles. Pure and co-doped samples have capsule and sphere-like features in their SEM morphology. Using UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, the optical property was examined, and it was observed that the band gaps for pure and co-doped SnO₂ were 3.73 eV and 3.53 eV, respectively. The functional groups and incorporation of Fe and Ni in the prepared powder were also validated by FT-IR and EDX studies. By utilising the agar well diffusion technique and Nutrient agar, the antibacterial properties of pure, Ni-Fe co-doped SnO₂ nanoparticles annealed at 700 °C were assessed. They were evaluated against various Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus pheumoniae) and Gram-negative bacteria (Shigella dysenteria). The zone of incubation was found against the Gram +Ve and Gram -Ve bacterial strains.