Investigation of antibacterial and anticancer activities of WO3 nanostructures

In this work, tungsten trioxide nanoparticles (WO3 NPs) was prepared by hydraulic acid-assisted precipitation method and WO3 nanorods (NRs) and WO3 nanosheets (NSs) were synthesized by sol-gel method. Structural, morphological, vibrational, specific surface and pore size distribution, optical, thermal, electrochemical properties, antibacterial and anticancer activities of the synthesized nanostructures were analysed. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was employed to find the phase and lattice parameters. The synthesized WO3 nanostructures were of monoclinic (NPs), triclinic (NRs) and monoclinic (NSs) crystalline phases. The morphology analyses inferred that the NPs were equally distributed with almost uniform size without any agglomeration, NRs entangled, grew up in batches and the NSs stacked together. Raman and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) studies indicated the presence of various vibrations and functional groups in WO3 nanostructures, respectively. Specific surface area and pore size distribution were studied by using BET analysis. The calculated specific surface areas for WO3 NPs, NRs and NSs are 12.98, 09.26 and 11.37 m2/g, respectively. Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy was utilized to study the optical characteristics. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) inferred that the synthesized nanostructures exhibited higher thermal stability. Strong interaction within the WO3 network is accounted for their higher thermal stability till 800 degrees C. To analyse the electrochemical properties, cyclic voltammetry measurements were conducted. The antibacterial activity of WO3 nanostructures was examined against S.aureus and E.coli strains. The anticancer activity of WO3 nanostructures was investigated on human breast cancer cells. The production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was responsible for the efficiency of WO3 nanostructures towards toxic effect. Higher porous structure of WO3 NPs offered more active sites and large specific surface area. This authenticated the better electrochemical, antibacterial and anticancer performance of WO3 NPs, as compared to NRs and NSs.