Green synthesized ZnO-Fe2O3-Co3O4 nanocomposite for antioxidant, microbial disinfection and degradation of pollutants from wastewater

Microbial resistance, industrial and agricultural wastes are the major concerning problems of today's world. Herein is a highly efficient incubated ZnO–Fe2O3–Co3O4 nanocomposite derived from Cordia myxa through a green chemistry approach. UV–visible spectroscopy (UV–Vis) was confirmed the peak on 508 and 387 with the energy bandgap of 2.2eV for I-NC. X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) revealed the diffraction pattern of incubated nanocomposites (I-NC) that ZnO showed hexagonal, while Co3O4 and Fe2O3 showed cubic structure. SEM analyses show the patterns comprising the crystal morphology of flower-ZnO, agglomerated Fe2O3 spongy rhombohedral Co3O4. The results of antibacterial activity show that the I-NC have a greater value of zone of inhibition (ZOI) against bacterial strains than NC, with the highest percentage in this trend P-aeruginosa94%>S-aureus91%>K-pneumonia89%>E-coli87%>P-vulgaris81%. The photocatalytic activity data showed that the Methylene Blue, Methyl Orange, Rhodamine-B, P-Nitroaniline, and Cresol Red dyes were degraded in the presence of I-NC catalysts after sunlight irradiation. The degradation efficiencies of I-NC show the trend Methylene Blue (99.98%) > P-Nitroaniline (99.97%) > Rhodamine-B (99.86%) > Cresol Red (99.80%) > Methyl Orange (99.6%). This study reported that the use of the Cordia myxa for the formulation of incubated nanocomposite could be employed as a novel antibacterial agent to inhibit bacterial growth and biofilm formation and photocatalytic agent.