Sol-gel synthesized Cu/ZnS nanocomposites for photocatalytic dye degradation and antibacterial activity

In this research, triethanolamine was used as a templating agent to synthesize Cu doped ZnS nanoparticles (NPs) with (1, 3, and 5 wt.%) by sol gel method. Utilizing different characterization techniques such as UV-Vis DRS, IR, XRD, BET and TEM, the produced nanocomposites (NC) were characterized. The surface area increased significantly from 57.1 to 152.4 m² g⁻¹ because of the computed band gap energy being diminished from 3.6 to 2.25 eV. The photocatalytic activity of the created nanoparticles was determined by destroying methylene blue dye (MB) and methyl violet (MV) under sunlight irradiation. The findings showed that the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of Cu/ZnS (5 wt.%) nano powders for MB and MV rose to 95% from 59 and 99% from 75% for undoped ZnS nanoparticles, respectively. The produced nanocomposites also proved to have excellent antibacterial action against Gram-positive bacteria S. aureus (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram-negative bacteria E. coli (Escherichia coli) under sunlight irradiation. The antibacterial action of Cu/ZnS (5 wt.%) nano powders reached 99.9 and 96% against S. aureus and E. coli, respectively.