3D Nanostructured materials: TiO2 nanoparticles incorporated gellan gum scaffold for photocatalyst and biomedical Applications

A unique three-dimensional (3D) nanostructured gellan gum (GG) is fabricated by incorporating TiO2 nanoparticles (GG + TiO(2)NPs) scaffold by freeze-drying. The fabricated GG + TiO(2)NPs were characterized using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), x-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to study their physiochemical properties. FTIR was used to investigate the intermolecular interactions in the scaffolds. The crystal structure was determined by bulk analysis using XRD and SEM for microstructure observation of scaffold surfaces. The performance of synthesized GG + TiO(2)NPs scaffold 3D nanostructured materials was evaluated as a photocatalyst for methyl orange (MO) degradation and for biomedical applications. The results showed that the scaffold possessed good photocatalytic activity for removal of methyl orange with 88.24% degradation after 3 h of UV irradiation. The scaffold also induces the cell growth, thus offering a good candidate for biomedical applications.