One-step fabrication of surfactant mediated Pd/SiO2, A prospect toward therapeutic and photocatalytic applications.

[Display omitted] • This paper prepared the heterostructure Pd/SiO 2 by new hydrothermal method. • Overviewed the significant antibacterial activity of Pd/SiO 2 having no toxicity against RBCs. • Bactericidal efficacy of is strongly effected by employed synthesis method. • The Pd/SiO 2 nanocomposite showed superior photocatalytic activity than SiO 2 in the presence of UV light. Owing to the significant ecological sustainability of facile methods for synthesis of nanomaterials, they have gained much attention in the field of nanotechnology. In this present research work, surfactant mediated synthesis of Pd/SiO 2 nanocomposites was achieved by reduction of Pd ions on the surface of SiO 2. By using Tetraethoxysilane (TEOS), the aggregation during synthesis of nanoparticles was avoided thus making the synthesis efficient and cost-effective as no special conditions of temperature and pressure was required. The prepared nanomaterials were fully investigated structurally and morphologically using various analytical tools including X-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometry and UV–visible spectroscopy. The synthesized Pd/SiO 2 nanomaterials were examined for their catalytic activities towards degradation of nonbiodegradable Methylene blue (MB). Here, the results of photocatalytic activity showed that the degradation of MB in the presence of Pd/SiO 2 reached up to 94% within 50 min of irradiation. Furthermore, the antimicrobial study showed that the prepared Pd/SiO 2 nanocomposite exhibit excellent antibacterial properties. The inhibition of irradiated Pd/SiO 2 composite against E. coli and S. aureus were 19 ± 0.4 mm and 24 ± 0.5 mm respectively, while that in dark were 8 ± 0.2 mm and 11 ± 0.3 mm respectively. In addition, the effect of Pd/SiO 2 amount and light irradiation on the antibacterial activity was investigated by determining the amount of activated oxygen radicals produced within the bacterial cell. Interestingly, the cytotoxicity analysis showed that Pd/SiO 2 nanocomposite is nontoxic to healthy RBCs. The overall results of this present study concludes that as-synthesized Pd/SiO 2 nanocomposite has both photocatalytic as well as therapeutic properties ensuring that it could be novel candidate for removal of organic pollutants and bacterial pathogens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]