Rapid photodegradation of toxic organic compounds and photo inhibition of bacteria in the presence of novel hydrothermally synthesized Ag/Mn–ZnO nanomaterial

Abstract

Purified water is the most concerning issue these days, and utmost conventional practices are allied with various downsides. Therefore, an ecologically benign and easily amicable therapeutic approach is the requirement. In this wonder, nanometer phenomena bring an innovative change to the material world. It has the potential to produce nanosized materials for wide-ranging applications. The subsequent research highlights the synthesis of Ag/Mn–ZnO nanomaterial via a one-pot hydrothermal route with an efficient photocatalytic activity against organic dyes and bacteria. The outcomes revealed that the size of the particle (4–5 nm) and dispersion of spherically shaped silver nanoparticles intensely affected by employing Mn–ZnO as a support material. Use of silver NPs as a dopant activates the active sites of the support medium and provides a higher surface area to upsurge the degradation rate. The synthesized nanomaterial was evaluated against photocatalytic activity using Methyl orange and alizarin red as model dyes and confided that more than 70% of both the dyes degraded under 100 min duration. It is well recognize that the modified nanomaterial recreates an essential role in every light-based reaction, and virtually produced highly reactive oxygen species. The synthesized nanomaterial was also evaluated against E. coli bacterium both in light and dark. The zone of inhibition in the presence of Ag/Mn–ZnO was observed both in light (18 ± 0.2 mm) and dark (12 ± 0.4 mm). The hemolytic activity shows that Ag/Mn–ZnO has very low toxicity. Hence, the prepared Ag/Mn–ZnO nanomaterial might be an effective tool against the depletion of further harmful environmental pollutants and microbes.