IJSR - International Journal of Scientific Research

Rajaram Rajakumari; Rita John; Mahalingam Umadevi

Volume : VI, Issue : II, February - 2017

Photocatalytic and Antibacterial Properties of ZnO:TiO2 Nanocomposite

Rajaram Rajakumari, Rita John, Mahalingam Umadevi

Abstract :

The ZnO:TiO₂ nanocomposite of varying molar ratios were synthesized by wet chemical reaction method. The XRD studies exhibit the presence of wurtzite (hexagonal) crystal structure similar to the parent compound (ZnO) in 5 mol% TiO₂ doped ZnO, suggesting that doped Ti⁴⁺ ions sit at the regular Zn²⁺ sites. However, same studies spread over the samples with Ti⁴⁺ content > 5 mol% reveals the occurrence of additional peaks corresponding to TiO₂. Triple exponential decay was observed in the fluorescence life time measurement (FLIM) of the synthesized samples. The magnetic properties measured from VSM data revealed diamagnetism in ZnO: TiO₂ nanocomposites. The photocatalytic activity of ZnO: TiO₂ (20, 30, and 40 mol %) in the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange showed enhanced degradation effect for 40 mol % ZnO: TiO₂. The antibacterial activity of the ZnO: TiO₂ was evaluated for three different bacteria by agar disc diffusion assay and the results clearly showed that ZnO: TiO₂ nanocomposite has remarkable antibacterial effect and this effect is concentration–dependent. While increasing the concentration of TiO₂, more microbial toxicity was observed.