Photocatalytic degradation of anionic and cationic dyes over PPy/CuFe2O4 nanocomposite under visible-light and bactericidal action

•PPy/CoFe2O4 nanocomposite was synthesized for photoreduction of dye.•A visible light photocatalytic process for reduction of dye was proposed.•Anti-bacterial properties were investigated against gram positive and gram-negative bacterial strains.•The enhancing photocatalysis mechanism was discussed.•A maximum photoreduction efficiency up to 83% and 9% was obtained Population growth upsurges the need for clean water. Therefore, finding a reliable solution to extract water from the huge industrial and domestic wastewater is very important. Aim of this study investigated the performance of adding of Cufe2O4 over PPy-structure in visible-light assisted dyes photocatalysis and antibacterial activity. Here, PPy@Cufe2O4 nanocomposite was prepared via co-precipitation technique and characterized by XRD, DLS, FTIR, TEM, SEM, PL, DRS, and VSM analyses. At first, PPy@Cufe2O4 was applied to photocatalytic degradation of Direct Blue and Basic Yellow, and the parameters which impact the overall dye removal like pH, contact-time, contaminants initial concentration, and photocatalyst dosage were studied. In the second part, the antibacterial features of PPy@Cufe2O4 toward Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli were studied using disk diffusion and Streaking methods. According to the DRS analysis, the bandgap of Cufe2O4, polypyrrole, and the PPy@Cufe2O4 were 2.4, 1.35, and 1.91, respectively. The best photocatalytic performance of PPy@Cufe2O4 was achieved at pH=3.5 for direct blue and pH=11 for Basic Yellow. The kinetic studies were validated by the pseudo-first order model, which was suitable for describing the experimental data. Our results proposed that the linkage of Cufe2O4 over PPy-structure could be an alternative approach to better improving the photocatalytic activity of PPy. The antibacterial test results revealed that the PPy@Cufe2O4 has high antibacterial performance toward Escherichia coli compared to Staphylococcus aureus. [Display omitted]