Catalytic and antibacterial activity of annealed nickel sulfides quantum dots

Abstract

In this research, nickel sulfide (NiS) quantum dots (QDs) were prepared through the co-precipitation method and annealed at same temperature with different time. This study aimed to check the influence of annealing time on catalytic reduction of rhodamine B () and antibacterial efficacy against E. coli. The synthesized NiS were characterized thorough XRD, UV-Vis, SAED and TEM analysis to check the effect of annealing time on structural, optical and morphological of QDs. XRD spectra depicted that crystallinity of the NiS increased upon enhancing the annealing time. Electronic transition spectroscopy exhibited the blue shift by increasing annealing time, leading to band gap energy enhancement. TEM images demonstrated that agglomeration of the QDs increased by increasing the annealing time. EDS spectra verified the formation of NiS QDs. SAED analysis confirmed the polycrystalline behavior of host and annealed NiS. The pure NiS demonstrated substantial catalytic reduction of dye in acidic medium comparison to other media. Moreover, host sample (NiS) exhibited maximum inhibition zone for E. coli at higher concentration.