Facile synthesis of W1-yFeyO3@NiO@RGO ternary nanohybrid with enhanced sunlight mediated photocatalytic and bactericidal activities for water purification

[Display omitted] •The WFN@RGO nanohybrid dramatically enhanced the charge separation efficiencies.•The WFN@RGO nanohybrid displayed a superior bactericidal/photocatalysis synergy.•Methyl Orange and E. coli (G−) and S. aureus (G+) pathogens was efficiently decomposed under solar-light irradiation.•The heterostructured nanohybrid could be restored using a simple filtration process. In this research, W0.98Fe0.02O3@NiO@RGO (WFN@RGO) nanohybrid with superior bactericidal and photocatalytic properties has been successfully fabricated via a two-step wet chemical process. For comparison, bare W0.98Fe0.02O3@NiO (WFN) nanoparticles are also synthesized. The as-fabricated WFN nanoparticles and WFN@RGO nanohybrid are assessed for the removal of methyl orange (MO) dye under solar-light irradiation and more for the disinfection of E. coli (G−) and S. aureus (G+) pathogens. Compared to WFN nanoparticles, the WFN@RGO nanohybrid revealed excellent bactericidal activity and three-times higher catalytic activity by degrading ∼ 95% of MO dye in 80 min of solar-light irradiation. This property of the WFN@RGO nanohybrid is attributed to the significantly prolonged separation of photo-induced e−/h+ pairs owing to charge transfer among WFN nanoparticles and RGO-sheets, lower bandgap energy, and the synergetic effect of W0.98Fe0.02O3, NiO, and RGO in the WFN@RGO nanohybrid. In addition, the WFN@RGO nanohybrid demonstrated outstanding catalytic stability, and we detected only a 6.95% loss of degradation efficiency after five cycles. Furthermore, we also came up with a possible photodegradation mechanism for removing MO dye using WFN@RGO nanohybrid.