Fabrication of novel Ag3PO4/LiFe5O8 nanocomposites for dual applications in sustainable photocatalytic removal of harmful antibiotics and ratiometric electrochemical detection of hazardous carbendazim insecticide

Herein, for the first time bi-functional magnetic nanocomposites based on Ag3PO4 (SP) and LiFe5O8 (LF) were prepared with different ratio of LF (xLFSP, x = 2.5, 5, 10, 15 and 20 wt% of LF) and synergy between the in-dividual components of the nanocomposite were studied for dual applications. Different analytical techniques were employed to examine the physicochemical features of the synthesized materials. In the presence of H2O2 and visible light, 10LFSP nanocomposite possess superior photocatalytic activity towards levofloxacin (LFX, 98% removal) and tetracycline (TC, 95% removal) drugs. Further, 10LFSP was employed to modify a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) and fabricate a ratiometric electrochemical sensor for the detection of the pernicious insecticide carbendazim (CBM). Under optimized conditions, ratiometric signal is linear to the CBM concentration in the range of 0.05 to 10 mu M with a detection limit of 20 nM. Moreover, the proposed sensor 10LFSP/GCE was suc-cessfully validated in the detection of CBM in real water samples. Thus, the present work provides a venue for the design of multifunctional nanomaterial that could solve the dual purpose of detection and removal of water contaminants.