Toward Efficient Bactericidal and Dye Degradation Performance of Strontium- and Starch-Doped Fe(2)O(3) Nanostructures: In Silico Molecular Docking Studies

[Image: see text] In this study, various concentrations of strontium (Sr) into a fixed amount of starch (St) and Fe(2)O(3) nanostructures (NSs) were synthesized with the co-precipitation approach to evaluate the antibacterial and photocatalytic properties of the concerned NSs. The study aimed to synthesize nanorods of Fe(2)O(3) with co-precipitation to enhance the bactericidal behavior with dopant-dependent Fe(2)O(3). Advanced techniques were utilized to investigate the structural characteristics, morphological properties, optical absorption and emission, and elemental composition properties of synthesized samples. Measurements via X-ray diffraction confirmed the rhombohedral structure for Fe(2)O(3). Fourier-transform infrared analysis explored the vibrational and rotational modes of the O–H functional group and the C=C and Fe–O functional groups. The energy band gap of the synthesized samples was observed in the range of 2.78–3.15 eV, which indicates that the blue shift in the absorption spectra of Fe(2)O(3) and Sr/St-Fe(2)O(3) was identified with UV–vis spectroscopy. The emission spectra were obtained through photoluminescence spectroscopy, and the elements in the materials were determined using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analysis. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy micrographs showed NSs that exhibit nanorods (NRs), and upon doping, agglomeration of NRs and nanoparticles was observed. Efficient degradations of methylene blue increased the photocatalytic activity in the implantation of Sr/St on Fe(2)O(3) NRs. The antibacterial potential for Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was measured against ciprofloxacin. E. coli bacteria exhibit inhibition zones of 3.55 and 4.60 mm at low and high doses, respectively. S. aureus shows the measurement of inhibition zones for low and high doses of prepared samples at 0.47 and 2.40 mm, respectively. The prepared nanocatalyst showed remarkable antibacterial action against E. coli bacteria rather than S. aureus at high and low doses compared to ciprofloxacin. The best-docked conformation of the dihydrofolate reductase enzyme against E. coli for Sr/St-Fe(2)O(3) showed H-bonding interactions with Ile-94, Tyr-100, Tyr-111, Trp-30, ASP-27, Thr-113, and Ala-6.