Abstract
In this study Ag nanoparticles (AgNPs), ZnO nanoparticles (ZnONPs), and Ag/ZnO nanocomposites were greenly synthesized and loaded on activated carbon via three different routes: simple impregnation, successive precipitation, and co-precipitation. Neem leaf extract was used as a reducing and stabilizing agent. The morphological and structural properties of the synthesized nanocomposites have been examined using different analytical techniques such as XRD, SEM, FTIR, and UV. The antibacterial and catalytic activity of the synthesized nanocomposites were examined and compared. The results showed that AgNPs loaded on activated carbon (Ag/AC) has the best catalytic activity compared to the other nanocomposites, which is attributed to the good dispersal of AgNPs on the surface of activated carbon. Furthermore, AgNPs showed the best antibacterial effect on eight out of 16 tested pathogens. Results also showed that the order of precipitation is an important factor, as both antibacterial activities and photodegradation activities were higher for ZnO/Ag/AC than Ag/ZnO/AC. Furthermore, the co-precipitation method was shown to be better than the successive precipitation method for 4-nitrophenol photodegradation and 14 out of the 16 antibacterial tests performed.
Highlights
IntroductionEspecially for infections caused by water, is a severe health problem
General sanitization, especially for infections caused by water, is a severe health problem
The two concepts were achieved by recycling and reusing of a spent activated carbon as a support instead of using fresh material. This was achieved by collecting disposed activated carbon used in home filtration systems and regenerating it
Summary
Especially for infections caused by water, is a severe health problem. For activated carbon to remove both chemical and microbiological problems, a special functionalization should be done. Activated carbon with antibacterial activity can be produced by impregnation of silver nanoparticles [2,3,4,5,6], or metallic oxides such as ZnO [7]. Silver and ZnO nanoparticles supported on activated carbon have gained much attention for adsorption [6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16], and catalytic applications [7,17,18,19,20,21,22]
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