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Alcohothermal Synthesis and Characterization of Chitosan Supported Nickel Cobaltite Composite for Enhanced Photocatalytic and Antibacterial Activity

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Abstract

The transition metal oxide composites with biopolymer chitosan have captured the great interest of researchers for photocatalytic and antibacterial applications. Such composites enhance the photocatalytic degradation efficacy and inhibit bacterial growth effectively. In the present research, Nickel Cobaltite (NiCo2O4) and Chitosan Supported Nickel Cobaltite (Chitosan-NiCo2O4) composites were synthesized for the first time by employing alcohothermal method. Alcohothermal method was selected for its array of benefits including its capability to facilitate low-temperature synthesis, produce materials with controlled composition and morphology, reduce aggregation and promote good crystallinity. The synthesized composites were characterized by several techniques including XRD, FESEM, FTIR and UV-Vis spectroscopy. XRD pattern confirmed the formation of cubic spinel structure of NiCo2O4. FTIR analysis showed the stretching vibration mode of Ni-O and Co-O in NiCo2O4. FESEM image revealed nano-sheet like morphology with noticeable roughness and voids. The optical band gap of Chitosan-NiCo2O4 is narrower (1.37 eV) as compared to that of NiCo2O4 (1.27 eV). Chitosan-NiCo2O4 degraded the Methyl Blue (MB) dye up to 93% in 50 min when exposed to sunlight irradiation. After six cycles, Chitosan-NiCo2O4 retained its degradation efficiency up to 89% (with only 4% loss), demonstrating its good stability and reusability. This improvement is credited to the inclusion of chitosan which enhanced the surface area and porosity of the composite, which in turn exhibited good adsorbent behavior. Furthermore, Chitosan-NiCo2O4 exhibited superior antibacterial behavior compared to NiCo2O4 against both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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  1. Centre for Advanced Studies in Physics (CASP), Government College University, Lahore, Pakistan

    Amna Yasin, Tousif Hussain, Urooj Shuaib, Farrukh Ehtesham Mubarik, Muhammad Amjad & Sajjad Ahmad

  2. Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Islamic University of Madinah, Madinah, 42351, Saudi Arabia

    Imran Shakir

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Contributions

A.Y. wrote the main manuscript. T.H. contributed to the study conception and design. U.S., F.E., M.A. and S.A. contributed to the samples preparation, measurements, data analyzing, and discussion. I.S. contributed to experimental facilities. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Tousif Hussain.

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Yasin, A., Hussain, T., Shuaib, U. et al. Alcohothermal Synthesis and Characterization of Chitosan Supported Nickel Cobaltite Composite for Enhanced Photocatalytic and Antibacterial Activity. BioNanoSci. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12668-024-01307-1

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