Abstract
The active development of water purification functional materials based on multicomponent spinel ferrites makes it necessary to search for new efficient methods of obtaining initial nanostructured powders. In this study, a two-stage method for the synthesis of perspective pollutant absorption agents based on NixZn1−xFe2O4 (x = 0, 0.3, 0.7, 1.0) spinel ferrites are proposed and implemented. The approach is based on the synthesis of the initial powder using the solution combustion method and its subsequent thermal treatment in the air. It was found that synthesized samples are single-phase Ni-Zn ferrites with an average crystallite size of 41.4 to 35.7 nm and a degree of crystallinity of ~95–96%. The analysis of antimicrobial activity against four diverse test-cultures: Escherichia coli ATCC 11229 (non-spore-forming gram-negative), Bacillus cereus ATCC 10702 (spore-forming gram-positive), Staphylococcus citreus NCTC 9379 (non-spore-forming gram-positive), and Candida tropicalis ATCC 750 (yeast) showed that almost all of the synthesized powders exhibit an advanced ability to inhibit the growth of the microorganisms mentioned above. The compositions obtained can be a perspective basis for both natural and wastewater purificators with magnetic separation ability and can find biotechnological and biomedical applications as promising antimicrobial materials.
Highlights
Ferrites of various compositions appear to be an essential class of magnetic functional materials that are known foremost by means of their wide usage in the production of various electronic components [1,2,3,4,5]
Like multi-component lithium ferrites, Ni-Zn ferrites are the basis for obtaining microwave ceramic products for civil and military applications [10,11,12]
It has been discovered that nanostructured ferrite powders are capable of acting as efficient catalysts [13,14] and photocatalysts [15,16,17] and antimicrobial materials [18,19]; they are used for the purification of natural water sources along with wastewater from various pollutants [20,21]
Summary
Ferrites of various compositions appear to be an essential class of magnetic functional materials that are known foremost by means of their wide usage in the production of various electronic components [1,2,3,4,5]. It has been discovered that nanostructured ferrite powders are capable of acting as efficient catalysts [13,14] and photocatalysts (due to their crystalline structure, able to absorb visible light and conduct oxidation processes) [15,16,17] and antimicrobial materials [18,19]; they are used for the purification of natural water sources along with wastewater from various pollutants (utilizing photocatalysis and absorption) [20,21] In recent years, they have been used in the water purification field and seem to be promising future materials for this particular application as adsorbents of metal ions (e.g., Ag, Hg, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ni, Mn, Mo, Pb, Sn, and Zn), dyes, pesticides and insecticides, pharmaceuticals (separately or in a combination with other materials, e.g., chitosan), and other refractory organic pollutants [22,23,24,25,26,27]. From the point of biomedical application, ferrites of copper, nickel, zinc, and cobalt, which have shown particular perspective in this field (as core and coating materials, magnetic nanocarriers, antimicrobial materials, adsorbents, etc.) [30,31], are especially actively studied
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