Vermiwash-mediated synthesis of molybdenum doped TiO2 nanoparticles: Evaluation of photocatalytic and biomedical properties

Abstract

Combined effects of molybdenum (Mo) doping and enzyme incorporation on the photocatalytic and certain biomedical activities (antibacterial, antioxidant and antidiabetic) of titanium oxide nanopowder were studied. A soft-chemical eco-friendly approach was adopted to prepare enzyme powered Mo doped TiO2 nanoparticles (MTV). The photocatalytic dye degradation study against MB dye showed that the Mo addition increases the degradation efficiency from 73 to 86%. The enzyme incorporation into the system through the addition of vermiwash improves the efficiency further to 97%. The doping of Mo and addition of enzymes effectively controlled the growth of the tested bacteria Proteus vulgaris, Bacillus subtilis, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of bare TiO2 against the bacteria viz. P. vulgaris, B. subtilis and P. aeruginosa are 125, 125 and 250 µg/mL, respectively, whereas the MIC of vermiwash activated Mo doped TiO2 are as low as 15.62 µg/mL, 07.81 µg/mL and 15.62 µg/mL, respectively. The antioxidant capacity of the sample MTV expressed potential free radical scavenging effect by 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) with an inhibition of 89.77% and 2,2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) with an inhibition of 87.02% compared to the standard ascorbic acid. In addition, the MTV nanopowders exhibited significant anti-diabetic effect (89.29%) by inhibiting the α-glucosidase enzyme. The mechanism involved in the enhancement of efficiency of the synthesized material is elaborated in this article. The XRD, SEM, FT-IR, Raman, XPS and BET results support the discussions on the property enhancement of the prepared material.