Sb-doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles: Its synthesis, characterization and antimicrobial application

Environmental pollution, drug-resistant microbes, and their mutants are major problems for the modern world. These problems time-to-time create havoc in our daily life. We are searching for cheap and better solutions to get rid of these problems. Advanced oxidation processes are one of these solutions, which are extensively used for this purpose. The photocatalytic nanomaterials such as nanoparticles of titanium dioxide and zinc oxide are used as semiconductor photo-catalyst. Titanium dioxide is extensively used photocatalytic material because of its affordability, non-toxicity and chemical stability. It has unique catalytic, optical, biological, electronic and magnetic properties, but titanium dioxide has its own flaws like large band-gap, i.e., 3.2 eV. To overcome these problems, we use various methods. Doping titanium dioxide with various metals and non-metals is one of them. Here, we used antimony is used as dopant. Sb forms n-type dopant with titanium dioxide. The bottom-up approach was used in the formation of Sb-doped TiO 2 nanoparticles. Sb-doped titanium dioxide nanoparticles were synthesized by co-precipitation as well as ultrasonication methods. The calcination of these nanoparticles was done at 550, 750 and 1050 °C temperature. The characterization methods that were used X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and UV–vis spectroscopy in this synthesis. The antimicrobial activity of Sb-doped TiO 2 against Gram-negative ( E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa-PA01 and Klebsiella pneumoniae-B5055 ) and Gram-positive bacteria ( Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus-ATCC-43300 ) was verified by the agar-well diffusion method. XRD analysis disclosed the crystalline nature, crystallite size and tetragonal structure of the anatase phase of the synthesized sample. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed the presence of antimony in titanium dioxide lattice. TEM technique also authenticated the nature of the synthesized nanoparticles. The inclusion of Sb in the crystal lattice of TiO 2 was proved with the help of the EDS technique. FTIR analysis was employed to find the chemical bonding and functional groups at the interface of TiO 2 . The enhancement in light absorption in the visible region of Sb-doped TiO 2 was studied with the help of UV–vis spectroscopy. The antimicrobial activity of Sb-doped TiO 2 was verified by the agar-well diffusion method. At different calcination temperatures, different phases were shown by Sb-doped TiO 2 nanoparticles. The shape of nanoparticles was influenced by the synthesis methods. The absorption of light in visible region was also affected by the change in calcination temperature. Sb-doped TiO 2 nanoparticles have shown antibacterial activity.