https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-024-05931-4
Regular Article
Synergistic effects of Fe₃O₄–graphene composite in photocatalysis and antibacterial applications
1
Department of Physical Science, Chemistry Division, College of Science, Jazan University, P.O. Box. 114, 45142, Jazan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
2
Nanotechnology Research Unit, College of Science, Jazan University, P.O. Box 114, 45142, Jazan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
3
Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering and Computer Sciences, Jazan University, 45142, Jazan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
4
Physics Division, Department of Physical Sciences, College of Science, Jazan University, P.O. Box. 114, 45142, Jazan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
5
Department of Biology, College of Science, Jazan University, 45142, Jazan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
6
Environment and Nature Research Centre, Jazan University, P.O. Box 14, 45142, Jazan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
7
Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur, 342030, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India
a
malain@jazanu.edu.sa
b
p22mt001@iitj.ac.in
Received:
24
September
2024
Accepted:
13
December
2024
Published online:
12
January
2025
Pollution is rising globally due to human activities like industrial discharge, agricultural runoff, and urbanization. Addressing this urgent issue is essential for protecting environmental and public health. The use of composite materials to address environmental problems has evolved significantly, notably in the development of strategies for eliminating pollutants/pathogens from wastewater. This work presents the co-precipitation modification of iron oxide with graphene (Fe3O4–graphene). The differential approach was utilized to calculate the optical band gaps for Fe3O4 and graphene in nanocomposites (NCs), which were found to be 1.62 and 3.42 eV, respectively. Malachite green degradation under visible-light irradiation was used to measure the photocatalytic activity. The Fe3O4–graphene NCs showed better photodegradation efficiency at 97%, outperforming malachite green (MG) degradation without any catalyst (70%). The increased photocatalytic activity is due to lower bandgap energy and a high-rate constant of 0.06367 min−1, confirming first-order reaction kinetics. When tested against fungi, Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, Candida albicans, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolates 1 and 2, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the sample was more effective against Gram-positive bacteria than Gram-negative bacteria and fungi. These findings contribute to the ongoing research in environmental remediation by presenting a multifunctional material that combines high photocatalytic and antibacterial efficiency, offering a promising solution for the treatment of contaminated water sources.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.