Reduced graphene oxide supported Bismuth-Iron mixed oxide nanocomposite: A potent photocatalyst for crystal violet dye degradation and antimicrobial application

The nanocomposites of rGO-[Bi_xFe_(1-x)]₂O₃ (x=0.02, 0.05, 0.10 and 0.20) are successfully synthesized with the help of a cost-effective co-precipitation procedure. Influence of Bi on to the magnetic, optical, microstructural and antimicrobial properties of Fe₂O₃ are investigated. The presence of pure α-Fe₂O₃ is being witnessed through the characteristic intensity of XRD peak where phase impurity is not noticed up to 10 % of Bi loading. Presence of various defects have been realized in the sample from PL spectra. The direct band gap of the adsorbent nanocomposite with Bi loading up to 10 % with that of α-Fe₂O₃ is found to be 2.51 eV and it may be taken as a suitable photocatalyst of choice towards the photodegradation of Crystal Violet with 97.69 % by maintaining the pH-10 and time-60 min as optimum condition. Adsorption capacity (qm) and rate constant (k_app) are found to be 28.50 mg/g and 0.0473 min⁻¹ respectively. The antimicrobial analysis of the synthesized material signifies its antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus (Gram +Ve) and Klebsiella pneumonia (Gram −Ve). On the basis of our finding, the synthesized nano composite may be the materials of choice for the optical device application, memory storage device as well as in the biomedical application.