Hand-crafted potent hydroxyl-rich husk succoured Fe3O4 @ Cu, Mn, Ni, Co – tetra-metallic heterogenous nanocomposite as a catalytic accelerant

Abstract

An innovative means of synthesizing mechanically recoverable ternary nanocomposite (NC) comprising Fe₃O₄ supported on Oryza sativa husk (OSH) and ornamented with 3d tetra-metals (M = Mn, Co, Ni, Cu) is proposed using a manual grinding method. This NC was prepared via a one-step manual method. The added advantage of this method is the non-usage of solvents during the synthesis of the NC. In situ, the NPs were grown on OSH-supported magnetite NPs, where they combined to form a matrix to facilitate the formation of the metal NPs in it. The as-crafted Oryza sativa husk-supported magnetite @ tetra-metallic nanocore hybrid (OSFTC) was confirmed via several characterisation techniques, such as XRD, FT-IR, HR-TEM, FE-SEM, XPS, VSM, NMR, and UV-vis analysis. The interesting twist in this NC is that the leaching-in of metals toward the core of the NC increases the magnetic nature of the composite as evidenced by VSM analysis. The electrostatic attraction between NPs formed and the matrix plausibly results in enhanced photocatalytic degradation of pharma-waste in an efficient way. The activity of the OSFTC increases for ciprofloxacin and paracetamol by 67 and 71%. Furthermore, the hydrogenation of anthropogenic pollutants via a foreign agent yields a good conversion percentage of 92%. In addition, the noxious hexavalent chromium is converted to a trivalent cation with the help of OSFTC, indicating good conversion under ambient conditions. Herein, OSFTC also exhibited effective activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Moreover, the ternary composite demonstrates consistent and commendable activity against pharmaceutical compounds and carcinogenic pollutants. The OSFTC was designed in a way to perform the cleavage of bonds for toxic materials efficiently.