Enhanced photocatalytic and antibacterial activities of mechanosynthesized TiO2-Ag nanocomposite in wastewater treatment

TiO2-Ag nanocomposite (NC) has been successfully synthesized by mechanical alloying (MA) the TiO2 and Ag powder mixture for the 3h under Ar atmosphere. The Rietveld refinement of XRD data and FTIR spectra analyses reveal the detailed structural and microstructural parameters of this nanocomposite. Particle size and elemental composition of the nanocomposite are measured from FESEM,TEM images and EDS spectrum respectively. A notable photocatalytic activity (similar to 95% degradation of Rhodamine B (RhB), similar to 76% of Methylene Blue (MB), similar to 23% of Methyl Orange (MO)) of this NC is revealed under visible light irradiation within 330 min. A significant antibacterial activity of the NC against E.coli and Staphylococcus aureus bacteria is revealed using the disk agar diffusion method. In comparison to pure TiO2, both photocatalytic and antibacterial activities of the NC are found to enhance significantly. This synthesized NC by a fast and facile MA method within a short duration of 3h has a great potential in removing organic pollutants and bacteria from industrial wastewater so that the purified wastewater can be reused in textile and other chemical industries. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.