Green synthesis of V2O5/ZnO nanocomposite materials for efficient photocatalytic and anti-bacterial applications

This work describes novel V2O5/ZnO hetero-structured nanomaterials providing efficient photocatalytic activities at different composite ratios (0.1:1, 1:1, 1:2, and 1:3, w/w). The V2O5/ZnO nanocomposites were prepared by a facile physico-chemical synthesis using V2O5 with ZnO through a high-energy ball miller technique. The 1:1 ratio of V2O5/ZnO nanohybrid composition material showed maximum potential (99.9% of methylene blue color removal) in activating reactive hydroxyls from aqueous solutions for organic pollutant degradation. Moreover, the 1:1 ratio of V2O5/ZnO nanomaterial also showed high bacterial resistance and exhibited enhanced activity for killing a pathogenic bacterium (Staphylococcus aureus). The minimum inhibitory concentration by microdilution method for 1:1 ratio of V2O5/ZnO composite was 400 µg/mL. The experimental results proved that the developed physiochemical approach is a simple, low-cost, green methodology for synthesizing heterogenous V2O5/ZnO nanohybrid composite materials for environmental remediation and anti-microbial applications.