In situ photo sonosynthesis and characterize nonmetal/metal dual doped honeycomb-like ZnO nanocomposites on wool fabric

[Display omitted] •In situ photo sonosynthesis of honeycomb-like N-Ag/ZnO photocatalyst nanocomposites on wool through one-step method.•Introducing excellent photocatalyst through dual doping of nonmetal/metal on nano ZnO particles.•Possessing significant acid resistant, UV-blocking, antibacterial/antifungal and self-cleaning properties.•Obtaining low cytotoxicity, alkaline solubility and photoyellowing with enhanced tensile strength and hydrophilicity.•Optimizing processing conditions using response surface methodology. In this work, nonmetal/metal dual-doped honeycomb-like N-Ag/ZnO nanocomposites were successfully photo sonosynthesized and sonoimmobilized on wool fabric through a facile one-step method under ambient pressure at low temperature as a novel photo-catalyst nanocomposite on textile material. Introducing nitrogen and silver on the sonoprepared nano ZnO particles led to superior photocatalytic activity. The homogenous distribution of the honeycomb-like nanocomposites on the fiber surface was confirmed by FE-SEM, EDX and X-ray mapping. X-ray diffraction patterns also proved the presence of silver metal with a crystal size of 54Å on the photo sonotreated sample with nonmetal/metal dual-doped honeycomb-like N-Ag/ZnO nanocomposites. The defect analysis based on XPS confirmed the composition of the nanocomposite. Ultraviolet-blocking was examined through reflectance spectra in the range of 200–800nm showing reasonable transmittance property. The sonoloaded wool sample indicated excellent antibacterial/antifungal properties with low negative effect on human dermal fibroblasts. The role of both zinc acetate and silver nitrate concentration on diverse properties of the fabric was investigated and the optimized conditions introduced using response surface methodology. Finally a superior quality wool fabric with multifunctional properties was introduced for using special clothing in different environment.