Photo-catalytic applications of green synthesized AM-Ag/CuO/ZnO nano-composite and its synergistic effects

Abstract

Toxic organic and inorganic chemical contaminants in the discharged effluents from textile and pharmaceutical industries have been directly polluting fresh and marine water bodies. The present study described significant degradation of two common water contaminants viz Methylene blue (MB) dye and Ciprofloxacin (CF) drug using green synthesized three mono-metallics AM-AgNP, AM-CuONP, AM-ZnONP (AM = Plant code, NP = Nanoparticles) and one trimetallic AM-Ag/CuO/ZnO nano-composite (TMNC). The biomolecules present in the leaf extract of A. monohpylla (AM) and microwave irradiation play a crucial role in tuning the nanomaterial’s size and shape. The spherical to rod shaped monometallic and irregular-shaped (spherical to oval) TMNC have shown polycrystalline nature with the FCC (AM-AgNP), monoclinic (AM-CuONP), wurtzite (AM-ZnONP) and mixed (AM-Ag/CuO/ZnO NC) crystal phases. Mono-metallics have shown significant degradation activity of 98.69% (50 min), 97.87% (70 min), 99.95% (50 min) and 59.48% (120 min), 64.69% (300 min), 76.13% (300) at 0.5 mg/ml of AM-AgNP, AM-CuONP, AM-ZnONP respectively against MB dye and CF drug. However, at the same concentration (0.5 mg/ml) TMNC degraded 99.5% MB dye and 97.53% CF drug within 40 min and 180 min respectively that reinforce the synergistic activity of the combined nano-materials at the specific concentration ratio. The R2 value confirmed that all the reactions followed the pseudo-zero order reaction, kinetic models.