Dual-functional Ag-Ca@CuO nanocomposites for heavy metal remediation and cancer cell inhibition

Ag-Ca@CuO nanocomposites are fabricated using chemical precipitation method and are used for removing Cr (VI) and Pb (II) from the Yamuna River water in Delhi. Scanning electron microscopy confirmed the formation of rice grain-shaped CuO nanoparticles. Ag-Ca@CuO nanocomposites (CCA NCs) exhibited a surface area of 34.62 m²/g, notably superior to pristine CuO. At a concentration of 0.4 mg/mL of Ag-Ca@CuO nanocomposites, the highest removal rate of Lead (Pb) was observed to be 99.36%. For hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)), the maximum removal efficiency was 72% under the same treatment conditions. Meanwhile, 63% of Nickel (Ni) removal is observed at 0.4 mg/mL treatment concentration. The incorporation of Ag and Ca played a crucial role in enhancing pollutant adsorption, suppressing electron-hole pair recombination, and promoting reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation for the degradation of toxic metal ions. We also studied the cytotoxic effects of CC and CCA NCs against the human HCT-116 cell line in a dose-dependent manner. At the nanocomposite's maximum concentration, i.e., 100 µg/mL, the cell viability for CC 2, CC 4, CCA 2 and CCA 4 was observed to be 47.64%, 35.29%, 19.83% and 8.88% respectively. IC50 value was also observed to be least for CCA 4 (17.71 µg/mL) followed by CCA 2 (31.61 µg/mL), CC 4 (72.93 µg/mL) and CC 2 (94.33 µg/mL). Cytotoxicity studies on human embryonic kidney (HEK 293) cell lines demonstrated minimal toxicity of the synthesised nanocomposites. This material could be used in wastewater treatment and as Drug-free therapeutics in cancer treatment.

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-025-04655-1.