Abstract
Design and assembly of novel nanocomposites with multi‐purpose activities including efficient adsorption behavior toward different pollutants and microbial growth inhibition of various active biological species is a challenging aspect. Therefore, the current study is devoted to fabricating a novel nanocomposite of mixed metal oxides (ZrO2 and SiO2) with magnetite (Fe3O4) and cationic surfactants (cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide [CTAB] and dodecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide [DoTAB]) via a solvent free microwave methodology to yield ZrSiO4 NPs‐CTAB@Fe3O4 NPs‐DoTAB. The as‐prepared nanocomposite was characterized by SEM to confirm the existence of homogeneous particles (~32.45 nm). The chemical structure of nanocomposite was also confirmed from the energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy (EDX), Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. The surface area of this nanocomposite was also determined by the Brunauer‐ Emmett‐ Teller (BET) method and found to correspond to 6.319 m2 g−1. Remediation of Azorubine E122 food dye was optimized in the presence of a number of controlling parameters. The maximum adsorption capacity was characterized as 66.55 mg g−1 using 50 mg nanocomposite at 20 min. Kinetics and isotherm modeling evaluations referred to the best fitting with pseudo‐second order and Freundlich model, respectively. The antibacterial activity of ZrSiO4 NPs‐CTAB@Fe3O4 NPs‐DoTAB nanocomposite was assessed against Escherichia coli ATCC® 25922™ and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC® 25923™, and the collected data proved efficient growth inhibition (p < 0.05) at considerably low concentrations of the investigated nanocomposite. Therefore, the evaluated ZrSiO4 NPs‐CTAB@Fe3O4 NPs‐DoTAB nanocomposite was concluded to afford excellent antibacterial activity and efficient magnetic removal behavior of organic dyes. Hence, it is recommended as a talented material for purification of water resources containing multi‐chemical and biological pollutants as well. Finally, this study is expected to open new prospects for manufacturing other new nanocomposites with the aim of future applications in the removal of different chemical pollutants as well as viruses and bacteria.