NiO nanoparticles via calcination of a Schiff base complex: Photocatalytic and microbicidal activity

Abstract

Calcination method has been used to create NiO nanoparticles with a diameter of 19 to 30 nm from [NiL] [L: 2,2'-((1E,1'E)-(1,2-phenylenebis(azanylylidene))bis(methanylylidene))bis(4-bromophenolate)]. Formation and purity of the NiO nanoparticles produced under mild conditions without any special needs are evidenced by fourier-transformed infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, ultraviolet visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy and scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM). According to the spectral methods, transformation of the synthesized nickel-Schiff base complex into the nanoparticles has been achieved with high purity, high crystallinity and low agglomeration by thermal decomposition which is an efficient and simple approach. The nanoparticles are employed as a catalyst for the decomposition of methylene blue, an industrial synthetic dye, and the nanoparticles exhibit mild photocatalytic activity. Furthermore, biological activity of nanoparticles has been investigated on five bacterial strains and two fungi, with promising results.