Green Route Synthesis of Fe3O4 Nanoparticles and Exploring its Photochemical Activity and Antibacterial Activity

Green synthesis of magnetite nanoparticles is a significantly developing methodology because of its biocompatibility. In the present work, iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) were synthesized by a simple Co-precipitation method using Commiphora berryi plant exudates. FTIR, XRD and SEM techniques were used to characterize the as-synthesised iron oxide nanoparticles. Photocatalytic activity of synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles was determined against Methylene blue (MB) dye in an aqueous medium. Iron oxide nanoparticles acted as a photocatalyst and decomposed the dye under solar irradiation. Results show that 73 % of degradation efficiency was attained after 150 minutes with a nanoparticle dosage of 0.5 mg/L, making the IONPs a potential applicant for various effluent treatment methods. Further, the results indicate that the efficiency increases with increasing pH and decreases with increasing MB dye concentration. The antimicrobial activity of IONPS has been studied against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. IONPs show excellent antibacterial activity for both the organisms with 16.5 mm and 16.75 mm zone of inhibition, for E. coli and S. aureus , respectively.