Photocatalytic and Structural Activity of V₂O₅ Immobilized ZnS Nanocomposite for Bacterial Detoxification Under Visible Light Irradiation

Zinc sulphide (ZnS) along with different transition metals has been used for various optoelectronic, photocatalytic and antimicrobial activities. In the present report, zinc sulphide (ZnS) and ZnS/ V₂O₅ nanocomposite have been prepared using the chemical co-precipitation (CcP) and microwave (MW) method and their comparison was done. The presence of functional groups was assessed using the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy along with elemental detection using Energy Dispersive X-ray. The structural properties were studied with the help of referral X-ray diffraction (XRD) indicating the major planes of the synthesized nanoparticles and their structural nature. Immobilization of the dopant significantly reduced the bandgap energy of ZnS from 3.5 eV to 2.78 eV. SEM analysis revealed the sheet-like arrangement of the doped nanoparticles. Antibacterial studies on the disease-causing bacterial species such as Escherichia coli, Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis and Salmonella typhi showed positive responses on using pure ZnS NPs and ZnS/ V₂O₅ nanocomposites synthesized by co-precipitation and microwave methods. It was observed that the microwave synthesized nanoparticles and nanocomposites exhibited higher antibacterial activity with the maximum shown by ZnS/V₂O₅ (1%).