Microwave-assisted Synthesis and Characterization of Metal Oxide Nanoparticles for Biological and Electrochemical Applications

Abstract Detection and monitoring of toxic and exhaust gases are crucial for energy and environmental conservation. Low-power, inexpensive gas sensors are in high demand. Metal oxide gas sensors are gaining interest due to their high selectivity and sensitivity. This research work aims to synthesize and characterize metal oxides, specifically thorium(IV) oxide, iron(III) oxide, and FTMMO, which is a mixed metal oxide consisting of iron and thorium. The synthesis of nanoparticles is accomplished using the co-precipitation method with a microwave reaction system. The resulting nanoparticles are subsequently characterized utilizing various analytical techniques such as FT-IR, UV-VIS (DRS), FE-SEM, EDAX, AFM, and XRD analysis. The cubic geometry of ThO2 and the face-centered rhombohedral structure of α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles were verified by XRD analysis. In order to investigate the utilization of iron(III) oxide, thorium(IV) oxide and iron thorium mixed metal oxides (FTMMO) are used to recognizes of ammonia and sulfur dioxide with the help of electrochemical method in the basic medium. The binding behavior of metal oxides and ovalbumin were investigated using UV-visible adsorption and fluorescence spectral techniques. The binding constant (Kb), Stern-Volmer constant (Ksv), and fluorophore quenching rate constant (kq) were calculated with the help of spectral data. Using the disc diffusion technique, research has been carried out to investigate the exceptional antibacterial activities of prepared metal oxides and mixed metal oxides against the different bacterial strains.