Structural, Optical, Thermal, Magnetic Properties of Zirconia Nanorods and their Photocatalytic and Antimicrobial Properties

Multifunctional Zirconia Nanorods performing photocatalysis, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal activities are presented in this article. Tetragonal Zirconia is synthesized by the simple co-precipitation method. The synthesized Zirconia is characterized by various characterization methods such as XRD, SEM, EDX, UV-Vis, PL, VSM, and TG/DTA analysis. Exploration of powder XRD pattern indicates tetragonal phase. SEM image illustrates rod-shaped morphology. UV-Vis spectra reveal that the synthesized catalyst has a wide bandgap of about 4.6eV. The emission peaks in the PL spectra reveal the presence of oxygen vacancies in the sample. Room Temperature Ferromagnetism (RTFM) is confirmed from VSM measurements. The performance of Zirconia nanorods in various applications such as photocatalysis, anti-bacterial and anti- fungal activities has been analyzed. t-ZrO_2 photocatalyst degrades methylene blue dye with 80% removal efficiency in 180 minutes under UV light irradiation. t- ZrO_2 obtained a 28mm inhibition zone against Staphaureus for anti-bacterial assessment while Amikacin has 15mm inhibition and obtained 25mm inhibition zone against Candida Albicans for anti-fungal assessment while Nystatin has 20mm inhibition. t-ZrO_2 shows a superior inhibiting effect against both gram-positive and gram-negative bacterial pathogens. Owing to its high surface area it exhibits the greatest inhibiting effect against fungal strain.