Biomass derived activated carbon loaded silver nanoparticles: An effective nanocomposites for enhanced solar photocatalysis and antimicrobial activities

This study discusses the prospect of using a biomass waste material, such as jute stick in the development of new technological material for the sustainable environmental application. In this article, we synthesized silver loaded activated carbon (Ag-AC) nanocomposite using a chemical precipitation method. The as-synthesized Ag-AC nanocomposite exhibited excellent antimicrobial activity toward gram negative and positive bacteria, such as Escherichia coli (E. coli), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) and Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). This may be because of the fact that the antibacterial effect of the silver nanoparticles was enhanced due to the presence of activated carbon (AC). We also compared the antimicrobial activities of Ag-AC nanocomposite with metallic nanoparticles (silver) and it was observed that the nanocomposite showed better antimicrobial property than that of metallic silver nanoparticles. The Ag-AC nanocomposite may, therefore, have the prospects for use as an antibacterial agent. In the present study, we also investigated the catalytic activity of Ag-AC nanocomposite for the degradation of toxic dye (malachite green oxalate) and pharmaceutical active compound (Clofibric acid) under solar irradiation. The malachite green oxalate and Clofibric acid were completely degraded within 90 min and 80 min using Ag-AC nanocomposite. Hence, the Ag-AC nanocomposite showed good antimicrobial as well as an excellent photocatalytic activity. (C) 2019 The Korean Society of Industrial and Engineering Chemistry. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.