Structural, Magnetic, Photocatalytic, Electrochemical and Antibacterial properties of Ag-doped Cerium ferrite nanoparticles

Ferrite materials, possessing a suitable electronic band structure, are consistently superior candidates for photocatalytic environmental detoxification utilizing visible light and solar energy. This study presents the synthesis of silver-doped cerium ferrites CeFe1-xAgxO3 (where x = 0.0, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.15 designated as C1, C2, C3, C4) employing the sol-gel approach. The characterisation of prepared samples for phase identification via X-ray diffraction (XRD) indicates the formation of an orthorhombic structure with space group Pbnm (62). The uniform distribution of grains is demonstrated using FESEM analysis. The optical band gap for the synthesized silver doped cerium ferrites ranges from 1.499 to 2.113 eV. The photocatalyst CeFe0.9Ag0.05O3 demonstrated a 97.83 % degradation of Crystal violet dye (CV) during 90 min of exposure to visible light. The impact of factors such as pH, catalyst dose, CV concentration, and water matrix was examined comprehensively. The electrochemical analysis validates the pseudocapacitive behaviour of Ag-doped CeFeO₃ nanoparticles, exhibits good capacitance and energy density. The dispersed Cerium ferrite nanoparticles showed potent antibacterial activity against Gram -ve bacteria ( Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Salmonella typhi) and Gram +ve bacterium Bacillus subtilis. Among all the nanoparticles, CeFe0.95Ag0.05O3 showed the highest susceptibility against all the strains whereas CeFe0.9Ag0.1O3 demonstrated greater effectiveness against Salmonella typhi.