Synthesis of multifunctional rGO/g-C3N4/FeTiO3 ternary nanocomposites for photocatalyst, antibacterial, and ecotoxicity assessment of zebrafish embryo model

Abstract

The wastewater from the dye and pharmaceutical industries antibiotics has caused serious environmental and health problems for humans and other species. For the development of superior photocatalysts, effective separation of photogenerated electron-hole pairs is essential in addition to optimizing solar absorption throughout a wide wavelength range. In order to produce bare, rGO/g-C3N4, rGO/FeTiO3, and rGO/g-C3N4/FeTiO3 (GCNFeT NCs) nanocomposites, this study describes the fabrication of perovskite-type titanate (FeTiO3) and its incorporation onto graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) using a hydrothermal synthesis technique. The generated nanocomposites structural, morphological, and optical properties were evaluated. After being exposed to solar light for 90 min, the resultant GCNFeT NCs efficiently broke down 80 % of Tetracycline (TC) and 90 % of Malachite Green (MG) dye. The photocatalytic efficacy is significantly improved by these results when compared to the pure and binary composites. Substantial catalytic efficiency to GCNFeT NCs was shown by the degradation rate constant (k) for MG and TC elimination by GCNFeT NCs, which was almost 20 times greater than that of pure and binary composites. Additionally, the antibacterial activity of GCNFeT nanocomposites was studied, and the results showed that it was significantly more efficient against Gram-negative bacteria than Gram-positive bacteria, including Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Furthermore, the freshwater zebrafish embryo development proved effective in assessing the non-toxicity of GCNFeT NCs. Our research findings indicate that high doses, GCNFeT NCs induce less toxicity in zebrafish embryo (6.25–100 µg/L). These results demonstrated the enhanced mechanism of GCNFeT NCs, indicating their great potential for use in antibacterial and water remediation applications.