Degradation of recalcitrant phenol pollutant and antibacterial study by Ni, Sr doped ZnO

Abstract

The carcinogenic and toxic effect of phenol on living being is potentially non recoverable. So, in order to degrade phenol into its benign form, undoped ZnO and Ni, Sr doped ZnO photocatalysts were synthesized by a citrate gel method. The synthesized photocatalysts were characterized by different characterizing techniques such as TG-DTA, UV-Visible absorption analysis, XRD, EDX, FE-SEM etc. Photoluminescence spectra showed the blue shift which explains bulk defects that enhanced efficiency of photocatalyst. The effect of dopant concentration, catalyst loading and pH of solution has been studied. It was observed that, degradation efficiency of Ni_0.02Sr_0.08ZnO was found high than undoped ZnO. So, it is better alternative than undoped ZnO. The potential antibacterial activity of undoped ZnO and Ni, Sr doped ZnO nanoparticles were investigated using Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, S. Typhi as test organism and results showed doped ZnO is more active against bacteria than undoped ZnO.

Keywords:

• Undoped ZnO
• Ni
• Sr doped ZnO
• photocatalyst
• phenol
• citrate gel
• photoluminescence

Acknowledgements

The authors are extremely grateful to Department of Chemistry, Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, Lonere, Raigad, IIT, Mumbai and IIT, Madras.

Conflict of interests

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest regarding the publication of this article.