Harnessing microwaves for the Biosynthesis of CuO-Co3O4 NCs: a dual study on photocatalytic process and antibacterial effectiveness

In this paper, we employed a microwave-assisted green synthesis approach to fabricate CuO-Co3O4 nanocomposites (NCs) with varying ratios of 90:10, 80:20, and 70:30, using an aqueous leaf extract derived from C. benghalensis. A comprehensive set of characterisation techniques, including UV-visible spectroscopy, XRD, TEM, SEM, and EDX, was utilised to analyse and characterise the synthesised CuO-Co3O4 NCs. SEM images show flattened rice-grain and irregular agglomerated morphologies due to the aggregation of particles. The TEM micrographs reveal particle dimensions measuring 21.92, 39.72, and 24.97 nm, at varying Cu:Co ratios of 90:10, 80:20, and 70:30, respectively. So-obtained samples have been tested for their photocatalytic activity against Congo red dye under UV light irradiation. Furthermore, the experiments unequivocally demonstrated that the microwave-green synthesised CuO-Co3O4 NCs exhibited excellent antibacterial activity against common human pathogens, namely S. aureus, B. subtilis, and E. coli. The findings shed light on the promising potential of synthesised NCs as antibacterial and photocatalytic agents, thus offering environmentally friendly solutions with broad practical applications.