Facile synthesis of Fe3O4/Sio2/Cu nanoparticles: investigation of physicochemical attributes of interaction in cationic micellar media and photo-antibacterial impact

Abstract

Solubilization of core-shell magnetic nanoparticles has gained new popularity as a versatile partitioning method with the recent growth in nanotechnology and related biotechnology applications. In this sense, Fe3O4/SiO2/Cu nanoparticles (NPs) were designed and characterized by various techniques such as Ultra-violet visible (UV-vis), Fourier transforms infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffractometry (XRD), scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM & TEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and thermogravimetric (TGA) analyses. The size determined by TEM analysis of Fe3O4/SiO2/Cu NPs was found in the range of 24 nm. The diffractometer results verified the impurity-free synthesis of the desired nanoparticles. Micellar solubilization and thermodynamics of micellization were determined correspondingly using a UV-Vis spectrophotometer and conductometer. The thermodynamics of micellization in terms of enthalpy, entropy and standard Gibb’s free energy was determined using electrical conductometry. The solubilization parameters viz. partition constant (Kc), binding constant (Kb), partition coefficient (Kx), and the corresponding Gibb’s free energies were estimated from the absorption spectroscopic analysis. The experimental outcomes and their computation revealed the rise in the critical micelle concentration of CTAB due to the incorporation of the nanoparticles with the micelles. Moreover, the photo-antibacterial activity of the nanoparticles in the bacteria culture environment showed effectiveness in comparison to the control group.