ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Cerium oxide nanofibers via electrospinning: a potential material to purge waterways of chemical pollutants and foodborne pathogens

M. Shamshi Hassan, Touseef Amna, Alya Aljuaid, Jari S. Algethami, Laila S. Alqarni, and Myung-Seob Khil

Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Al-Baha University, Al-Baha, Saudi Arabia

E-mail: hassan4nano@gmail.com

Received: 31 December 2023  Accepted: 6 June 2024

Abstract:

Food is frequently contaminated by foodborne pathogens, predominantly bacteria and fungi but occasionally certain viruses as well as protozoa during production, preparation, preservation, and transit before consumption. Cerium oxide (CeO₂) nanofibers (NFs) were synthesized by electrospinning method and calcined at 500 °C. NFs were characterized by XRD, SEM, EDX, TEM, TGA, FT-IR, UV-DRS, and RAMAN. Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae, two foodborne pathogenic bacteria, were tested using minimum inhibitory concentration approach at different doses. CeO₂ NFs displayed excellent photocatalytic performance for degradation of methyl orange (MO) under UV light, indicating that they could be useful photocatalyst for water remediation. CeO₂ NFs degraded out more than 94% of MO in less than 100 min, and highest concentration (160 µg/ML) had robustly inhibited the examined pathogenic strains. The results of this work provide new-fangled avenues for application as an active photocatalyst for removal of chemical pollutants from industrial waste waterways and inhibition of Gram-negative bacteria. Convincingly, it is fascinating to note that these electrospun CeO₂ NFs can be utilized to purify contaminated water and food as well.

Keywords: Electrospinning; E. coli; K. pneumoniae; Wastewaters; Methyl orange

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-024-03578-0

Chemical Papers 78 (12) 6961–6970 (2024)