Synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic, antibacterial activity of TiO2/ZnO nanocomposite

Nanoparticles are becoming familiar from the past few years because of the development of various applications in environmental protection, cosmetics, biology, medicine, sensing, communications and optics due to the importance of their optical electrical and magnetic properties. The TiO2/ZnO nanocomposite was synthesized by simple precipitation method which can be used as a photocatalyst and also as an antibacterial agent. The synthesized nanocomposite was characterized by using Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), differential scanning Calorimetry (DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and the average sizes were determined by zeta-seizer. The prepared nanocomposite was found to be thermally stable according to the DSC results. TiO2 and ZnO phase identification, crystallinity was confirmed from the XRD pattern. SEM shows morphology and uniformity of the ZnO coated TiO2 nanoparticles without any agglomeration. Based on the Zeta analysis the average particle size of the prepared nanocomposite was concluded to be 294nm.;The photocatalytic activity of the prepared nanocomposite was tested by the photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange; it confirms that the nanocomposite has more photocatalytic activity than the TiO2 nanoparticle. Antimicrobial activity of the TiO2, ZnO and the nanocomposite were studied by using serial dilution and zone of inhibition methods. From the antimicrobial studies it was concluded that the antibacterial activity of the prepared TiO 2/ZnO nanocomposite was because of the presence of ZnO rather than TiO 2.