Semiconductor-Assisted Photodegradation of Azo Dye (OII), Antioxidant and Bactericidal Effect of TiO2/NiO Nanocomposite

Chemical reduction method was used to synthesize Nickle oxide nanoparticles (NiO NPs) and NiO supported on titanium dioxide (TiO 2 /NiO) NPs. The morphological investigation showed that neat TiO 2 NPs are present in both a dispersed and agglomerated form, whereas NiO NPs are well distributed and deposited on the surface of TiO 2 with size below 200 nm. The majority of the NiO NPs have a cubical form. The formation of NiO NPs was also verified by FT-IR analysis. The synthesized TiO 2 /NiO and NiO NPs were used as photocatalystsfor the degradation of Orange II (OII) dye. According to the degradation investigation, both NiO NPs and TiO 2 /NiO NPs degraded OII dye more efficiently when exposed to UV light. The results indicated that NiO NPs degraded 93% and TiO 2 /NiO NPs degraded approximately 96% of OII dye within 30 min. The recovered and re-recovered NPs were also significantly degraded OII dye. The effects of initial dye concentration, catalyst dosage, and pH effect were studied. Promising bioactivities were demonstrated by TiO 2 /NiO and NiO NPs against the pathogenic bacteria citrobacter and provedincia . TiO 2 /NiO NPs have strong antioxidant activity (80%) compared to the standard ascorbic acid (88%).