Production of Ceramics/Metal Oxide Nanofibers via Electrospinning: New Insights into the Photocatalytic and Bactericidal Mechanisms

Jari S Algethami; Touseef Amna; Laila S Alqarni; Aisha A Alshahrani; Mohsen A M Alhamami; Amal F Seliem; Badria H A Al-Dhuwayin; M Shamshi Hassan

doi:10.3390/ma16145148

Production of Ceramics/Metal Oxide Nanofibers via Electrospinning: New Insights into the Photocatalytic and Bactericidal Mechanisms

Materials (Basel). 2023 Jul 21;16(14):5148. doi: 10.3390/ma16145148.

Authors

Jari S Algethami^{1

2}, Touseef Amna³, Laila S Alqarni⁴, Aisha A Alshahrani⁵, Mohsen A M Alhamami¹, Amal F Seliem¹, Badria H A Al-Dhuwayin¹, M Shamshi Hassan⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, College of Science and Arts, Najran University, Najran 11001, Saudi Arabia.
² Promising Centre for Sensors and Electronic Devices (PCSED), Advanced Materials and Nano-Research Centre, Najran University, Najran 11001, Saudi Arabia.
³ Department of Biology, College of Science, Al-Baha University, Albaha 65799, Saudi Arabia.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU), Riyadh 11432, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Al-Baha University, Albaha 65799, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Environmental pollution is steadily rising and is having a negative influence on all living things, especially human beings. The advancement of nanoscience in recent decades has provided potential to address this issue. Functional metal oxide nanoparticles/nanofibers have been having a pull-on effect in the biological and environmental domains of nanobiotechnology. Current work, for the first time, is focusing on the electrospinning production of Zr_0.5Sn_0.5TiO₃/SnO₂ ceramic nanofibers that may be utilized to battle lethal infections swiftly and inexpensively. By using characterizations like XRD, FT-IR, FESEM, TEM, PL, and UV-Vis-DRS, the composition, structure, morphology, and optical absorption of samples were determined. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) approach was used to investigate the antibacterial activity. Notably, this research indicated that nanofibers exert antibacterial action against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria with a MIC of 25 µg/mL. Furthermore, negatively charged E. coli was drawn to positively charged metal ions of Zr_0.5Sn_0.5TiO₃/SnO₂, which showed a robust inhibitory effect against E. coli. It was interesting to discover that, compared to pure TiO₂, Zr_0.5Sn_0.5TiO₃/SnO₂ nanofibers revealed increased photocatalytic activity and exceptional cyclability to the photodegradation of Rhodamine B. The composite completely degrades dye in 30 min with 100% efficacy and excellent (97%) reusability. The synergetic effects of Zr_0.5Sn_0.5TiO₃ and SnO₂ may be responsible for increased photocatalytic and bactericidal activity.

Keywords: Zr0.5Sn0.5TiO3/SnO2 composite; bactericidal mechanism; ceramics nanofibers; environmental pollution; photocatalysis.

Grants and funding

This research received funding from Deputy for Research and Innovation Ministry of Education, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for this research through a grant (NU/IFC/2/SERC/-/1) under the Institutional Funding Committee at Najran University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.