A Facile Synthesis of Palladium Nanoparticles Decorated Bismuth Oxybromide Nanostructures with Exceptional Photo-antimicrobial Activities

Assessing the interaction between microbes and nanocatalysts for finding an inclusive, proactive and deep understanding of nanoparticles-based toxicity is vital for discovering their broad range of applications. Palladium based photocatalysts owing to their unique fundamental characteristics and brilliant physicochemical potential have gained immense interest in environment remediation as disinfection system. In the present study, we report synthesis of a novel palladium nanoparticles decorated bismuth oxybromide (Pd/BiOBr) nanostructures using an energy efficient solution-based method, having excellent photocatalytic antibacterial action. The synthesized nanomaterials was thoroughly characterized using various analytical techniques. The photocatalytic antibacterial efficiency of Pd/BiOBr was evaluated against some common pathogenic strains of Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria (Pseudomonas fluorescens, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Aeromonas salmonicida, Salmonella typhimurium, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Bacillus subtilis). In our results Pd/BiOBr showed excellent photocatalytic disinfection efficacy with > 99.9% bacterial inactivation. A very low concentration of Pd/BiOBr (0.5µg/mL) effectively inhibited the bacterial growth in response to just 2h of visible light irradiation, while 1µg/mL of Pd/BiOBr completely killed all the tested bacterial strains proving their magnificent bactericidal potential. The developed materials with exceptional antibacterial broad range efficiency can be used in different photocatalytic disinfection systems including water purification systems, biofilm exclusion and combating differential antibiotic resistance. [Display omitted] •Pd/BiOBr nanostructures was synthesized in an energy efficient solution based method•Photocatalytic antimicrobial efficiency of the material was investigated•It showed excellent disinfection efficacy with > 99.9% bacterial inactivation•MIC and MBC was estimated to be 0.5µg/mL and 1µg/mL, respectively