Catalytic Use toward the Redox Reaction of Toxic Industrial Wastes in Innocuous Aqueous Medium and Antibacterial Activity of Novel Cu(x)Ag(x)Zn(1–2x)O Nanocomposites

[Image: see text] In this work, we report the redox properties in organic catalytic transformation and antibacterial activity of novel Cu(x)Ag(x)Zn(1–2x)O nanocomposites. Cu- and Ag-doped ZnO [Cu(x)Ag(x)Zn(1–2x)O (x = 0.1)] (CAZ), Cu-doped ZnO [Cu(x)Zn(1–x)O (x = 0.1)] (CZ), and Ag-doped ZnO [Ag(x)Zn(1–x)O (x = 0.1)] (AZ) were prepared via a chemical co-precipitation method. The synthesized nanocomposites were characterized using different spectroscopic techniques. The catalytic activity of CAZ, CZ, and AZ was examined for the reduction of 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) and 4-nitroaniline (4-NA) in the presence of NaBH(4) in an aqueous medium. The photocatalytic oxidation efficiency of these catalysts was also observed against naphthol orange (NO) under ultraviolet light. It was found that the catalytic reduction and oxidation efficiency of CAZ is higher than that of CZ and AZ in 4-NP/4-NA and NO in a water solvent, respectively. The antibacterial property of CAZ was also studied against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria by agar well diffusion and the minimum inhibitory concentration methods. It was found that CAZ shows better antimicrobial activity compared to its parental Cu(NO(3))(2)·3H(2)O, AgNO(3), and ZnO. Therefore, the incorporation of Cu and Ag into ZnO increases its catalytic and antimicrobial activity remarkably. Fourier-transform infrared and X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies of CAZ indicate the incorporation of Cu and Ag into the lattice of ZnO. The phase structure of CAZ was wurtzite hexagonal, and the average crystallite size was 93 ± 1 nm measured from XRD. The average grain size and particle size of CAZ were found to be 200 and 100 ± 5 nm originating from SEM and transmission electron microscopy studies, respectively. The optical energy band gap of CAZ is 3.15 eV, which supports the excellent photocatalyst under UV light. CAZ also exhibits good agreement for photoluminescence properties with a high intensity peak at 571 nm, indicating surface oxygen vacancies and defects which might be responsible for higher photocatalytic activity compared to others. The nanocomposite shows excellent reusability without any significant loss of activity.