https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-06796-x
Regular Article
Grafting of functional MWCNTs with biogenic synthesized CuO nanoparticles: photocatalytic and in silico molecular docking supported antimicrobial investigations
1
Department of Physics, Goswami Ganesh Dutta Sanatan Dharma College, Sector 32, Chandigarh, India
2
Department of Physics, Panjab University, Chandigarh, India
3
Department of Physics, Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya, Jalandhar, Punjab, India
Received:
22
April
2025
Accepted:
27
August
2025
Published online:
19
September
2025
The contamination of drinking water with various organic pollutants and pathogenic strains is the main issue of environmental concerns. The present work reports green synthesis of pure and multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) grafted CuO nanoparticles using Azadirachta indica leaf extract for photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye and antimicrobial applications against gram-positive/gram-negative pathogenic strains. The synthesized nanostructures were characterized using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), high-resolution transmission electron microscope (HRTEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) mapping, UV–vis diffused reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), Raman and Fourier transfer infrared (FTIR) measurements. The detail experimental investigations on photocatalytic measurements revealed that MWCNTs/CuO (synthesized using 20 mL Azadirachta indica leaf extract and 15 mg MWCNTs) showed complete degradation for MB dye with k = 0.0572 ± 0.0078 min−1 in presence one drop of H2O2 scavenger under 60-min UV light exposure relative to other synthesized nanomaterials. The obtained biocidal results clearly revealed that maximum zone of inhibition (ZOI) has been noticed for (i) Escherichia coli bacteria (diameter of ZOI = 24 mm), (ii) Pseudomonas aeruginosa (diameter of ZOI = 24 mm), and (iii) Bacillus subtilis (diameter of ZOI = 18 mm) strains in presence of nanocomposite synthesized using 20 mL leaf extract solution in 10 mg MWCNTs at 75 mg/ml and 50 mg/ml concentration. Antibacterial results are fully supported by in silico molecular docking study on Fabl (PDB ID: 1mfp) protein of Escherichia coli, LasR (PDB ID: 2UV0) protein of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and FTsZ (PDB ID: 4dxd) protein of Bacillus subtilis.
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corrected publication 2025
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.
