Synthesis of Bimetallic BiPO 4 /ZnO Nanocomposite: Enhanced Photocatalytic Dye Degradation and Antibacterial Applications.

Multidrug-resistant strains (MDRs) are becoming a major concern in a variety of settings, including water treatment and the medical industry. Well-dispersed catalysts such as BiPO 4 , ZnO nanoparticles (NPs), and different ratios of BiPO 4 /ZnO nanocomposites (NCs) were synthesized through hydrothermal treatments. The morphological behavior of the prepared catalysts was characterized using XRD, Raman spectra, PL, UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-DRS), SEM, EDX, and Fe-SEM. MDRs were isolated and identified by the 16s rDNA technique as belonging to B. flexus , B. filamentosus , P. stutzeri , and A. baumannii . The antibacterial activity against MDRs and the photocatalytic methylene blue (MB) dye degradation activity of the synthesized NPs and NCs were studied. The results demonstrate that the prepared BiPO 4 /ZnO-NCs (B1Z4-75:300; NCs-4) caused a maximum growth inhibition of 20 mm against A. baumannii and a minimum growth inhibition of 12 mm against B. filamentosus at 80 μg mL -1 concentrations of the NPs and NCs. Thus, NCs-4 might be a suitable alternative to further explore and develop as an antibacterial agent. The obtained results statistically justified the data ( p ≤ 0.05) via one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). According to the results of the antibacterial and photocatalytic study, we selected the best bimetallic NCs-4 for the photoexcited antibacterial effect of MDRs, including Gram ve + and Gram ve - strains, via UV light irradiation. The flower-like NCs-4 composites showed more effectiveness than those of BiPO 4 , ZnO, and other ratios of NCs. The results encourage the development of flower-like NCs-4 to enhance the photocatalytic antibacterial technique for water purification.