Cyclic voltammetry, photocatalytic and antimicrobial comparative studies of fabrication Fe3O4 and Fe3O4/PAN nanofibers

Abstract

This study reports the properties of green mediated synthesized iron oxides nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs) from peel extracts of pomegranate plant and its polyacrylonitrile/iron oxide composite nanofibers (Fe3O4/PAN). The following were used to characterize the synthesized nanoparticles and its polymer nanofibers; FT-IR, UV-Visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope SEM, TEM and cyclic voltammetry. The antimicrobial activities of synthesized nanoparticles were investigated against selected bacterial pathogens. For the plant extract, FTIR revealed OH characteristics peaks at 3271 cm-1 and 1600 cm-1 while the absorption peaks at 577 and 430 cm1 showed successful reduction of the precursor to Fe3O4 nanoparticles. The SEM images showed a spherical morphology of Fe3O4 and that of the composite with entrapped Fe3O4 into the PAN nanofibers. Photocatalytic process showed that the synthesized Fe3O4 nanoparticles has degradation efficiency of 71.36% and the nanofibers exhibited efficiency of 22.68% towards methylene blue (MB) dye. However, further kinetic analysis of the degradation process put Fe3O4/PAN nanofibers (NF) at a better correlation coefficient of 0.9239 than the Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Electrochemical studies using cyclic voltammetry showed that PAN functionalized with Fe3O4 is more electroactive as compared to the other electrodes studied. The anodic peak potential at 599 mV also confirmed the presence of Fe3O4 in the nanocomposite Fe3O4/PAN. The antimicrobial studies revealed that as the concentration of the green mediated Fe3O4 nanoparticle increases in the composite Fe3O4/PAN an excellent antimicrobial activity against selected pathogens were observed, showing Fe3O4 nanoparticles potentials to control pathogens of public health significance.