Novel magnetically separable of Fe(3)O(4)/Ag(3)PO(4)@WO(3) nanocomposites for enhanced photocatalytic and antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus)

BACKGROUND: Iron oxide nanocomposites have received a great attention for their application in various fields like physics, medicine, biology, and material science etc., due to their unique properties, such as magnetism, electrical properties, small size, biocompatibility and low toxicity. METHODS: Fe(3)O(4)/Ag(3)PO(4)@WO(3) nanocomposites with different weight percent of Ag(3)PO(4) were successfully prepared through fabricated Ag(3)PO(4)/Fe(3)O(4) with WO(3) via in situ fabrication method, electrospinning involved precursor solution preparation and spinning to enhance photocatalyst performance under simulated sunlight for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) and antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). RESULTS: The photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) under simulated light irradiation indicated that the nanocomposite with 0.25 mg of Ag(3)PO(4) has the best activity. An additional advantage of these photocatalysts is magnetic recoverability, using external magnetic field and photocatalytic stability of the nanocomposites was evaluated for three cycles. In addition, using different scavengers, holes (h(+)) and superoxide radical (O(2)(·−)) radicals and hydroxide radical ((·)OH) were identified the main oxidative species in the degradation reaction of methylene blue. CONCLUSIONS: The results reveal that Fe(3)O(4)/Ag(3)PO(4)@WO(3)-0.25 nanocomposites have photocatalytic and antibacterial activity against S. aureus. The photocatalyst and mechanism based on the enhancement of electron transfer processes between Ag(3)PO(4) and WO(3) nanoparticles.