Synthesis and its characterization of silver sulfide/nickel titanate/chitosan nanocomposites for photocatalysis and water splitting under visible light, and antibacterial studies

Abstract

This project displayed the preparation of silver sulfide/nickel titanate/chitosan nanocomposites by a chemical method and was characterized by different characterization devices. XRD results confirmed the rhombohedral, and monoclinic phase for nickel titanate and silver sulfide nanoparticles, respectively. SEM image shows agglomerated irregular shaped particles from the prepared nanomaterials. The mean particle size and band gap energy of as-synthesized silver sulfide/nickel titanate/chitosan nanocomposites were 62.00 nm, and 2.48 eV, respectively. The silver sulfide/nickel titanate/chitosan nanocomposites were used to photocatalytic process by the degradation of metronidazole under visible light irradiation. The complete photo-degradation of metronidazole was achieved by silver sulfide/nickel titanate/chitosan in 40 min reaction. It was observed that the silver sulfide/nickel titanate/chitosan indicated superior photo-degradation and hydrogen generate rate in compared to other catalysts. The silver sulfide/nickel titanate/chitosan nanocomposites indicated the antibacterial activity and prevented the bacteria growth.