Nonthermal plasma processing catalyzed by CuFe₂O₄ for organic pollutants remediation and bacterial inactivation with...

The suggested nonthermal plasma has been employed for organic pollutants remediation and bacterial inactivation with catalyst (CuFe₂O₄) via reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, along with catalytic density functional theory processing. The plasma generated species O₂^- (g.), OH^• (g.), H₂O₂ (aq.), and NO_x (aq.) are used for the remediation of organic pollutants, such as reactive black5 and bromocresol green with catalytic oxidative and reductive transformation, like as from Fe²⁺ (aq.) to Fe³⁺ (aq.) and from Cu²⁺ (aq.) to Cu¹⁺ (aq.), respectively. In the presence of plasma with CuFe₂O₄, the pollutants remediation enhanced more, which is 95 ± 0.78%, rather than only plasma. After removal of pollutants, the plasma processing catalyzed by CuFe₂O₄ was highly inactivated the E. coli. bacterial growth, which inhibition rate is 100 ± 0.87% and 100 ± 0.69% for reactive black5 and bromocresol green, rather than only plasma, such as 86.41 ± 0.91% and 73.91 ± 0.56%, respectively. The CuFe₂O₄ generated super oxides (O₂^- (aq.)) and hydroxides (H⁺(aq.), OH^⦁(aq.), and OOH^⦁(aq.)) are rapidly react with bacteria to damage the bacterial cell membrane via catalytic redox process. However, the plasma generated species were react with catalyst to produce the e^- charge densities under the redox transformation of spin orientation (±) 0.58 e^-, which is 0.007, 0.009, and 0.005 electrons per cubic Angstrom, for CuFe₂O₄, H₂O₂(aq.), and NO_x(aq.). The plasma generated species concentrations were quantified in the deionized water, which are H₂O₂(aq.) (145 ± 0.91 μM) and NO_x(aq.) (112 ± 0.56 μM), respectively. After eradication of pollutants, the water pH was observed, which is near to the neutral at 6.57 ± 0.27 under the catalytic binary redox process. Moreover, the catalytic stability examined via reusability test, which were four cycles for reactive black5 and three cycles for bromocresol green. Furthermore, the CuFe₂O₄ nanoparticles conducted several characterizations to analyze the various properties, such as crystal, surface, functional, and elemental.