H2O2 scavenging and biocompatibility assessment of biosynthesized cellulose/Fe3O4 nanocomposite showed superior antioxidant properties with increasing concentration

Abstract

Cellulose-based multi-component nanocomposites and biomaterials have some unique properties that give rise to construction in various fields. Recently many studies focused on green technology, which avoids toxic chemicals to make the environment sustainable. The hot-plate combustion method (HPCM) provides a green synthesis that can be used to achieve this goal. Present work deals with the synthesis of cellulose/Fe3O4 nanocomposite (1:1 ratio) via the co-precipitation method and analyzes the biocompatibility and photocatalytic activity. X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern confirms the formation of cellulose II phase for cellulose and cubic crystalline phase of Fe3O4 particles. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis showed that the synergy of carbohydrates and proteins is responsible for the fabrication of Fe3O4 nanoparticles and confirms the formation of cellulose/Fe3O4 nanocomposite by the green method. Field emission scanning microscopy (SEM) images revealed two different shapes of cellulose/Fe3O4 nanocomposites including rods and spherical shapes of nanomaterials with particle sizes observed between 20 and 30 nm. The bandgap of cellulose/Fe3O4 nanocomposite was achieved to 2.79 eV, which depicted the best active antibacterial and photocatalyst. The cellulose/Fe3O4 nanocomposite exhibited strong antibacterial as well as antioxidant activity compared with Fe3O4 nanoparticles, towards with maximum of (17.3 ± 0.5 mm) at 2.5 µg/mL against Escherichia coli (MTCC 443) and minimum zone of inhibition of (9.6 ± 1.1 mm) on Staphylococcus aureus (MTTC 3615) at 0.5 µg/mL, respectively. The breakdown of an aqueous medium of methyl orange (MO) dye by the cellulose/Fe3O4 nanocomposite was investigated under visible light irradiation and a higher degradation efficiency of 96.25% was attained at 120 min. The synthesized cellulose/Fe3O4 nanocomposite showed a positive response for photocatalytic and antibacterial activity.