Synthesis of new magnesium peroxide (MgO2) nano-rods for pollutant dye removal and antibacterial applications

Abstract In this literature, magnesium peroxide (MgO2) nanorods with an average Ddiameter = 166 nm have been successfully synthesized via fast and simple microwave assisted hydrothermal reaction for photocatalysis and antibacterial applications, for the first time. The as synthesized MgO2 nanorods are characterized by various techniques like XRD, FTIR, TEM, FE-SEM and BET. The photocatalytic activity of MgO2 nanorods has been studied for methyl orange (MO) degradation, and it is found that MO dye has been degraded after 50 min of the UV illumination. The antibacterial activity of the MgO2 nano-rods in solid agar media has been studied against (G + ve) bacteria and (G -ve) bacteria. The results of antibacterial activity demonstrated that MgO2 nanorods have bacteriostatic efficacy against Bacillus sp and E. coli bacteria. The antibacterial activity of MgO2 nanorods increases with increasing their concentrations in the tested media. Finally, these MgO2 nanomaterials may be used for different electronic nano-devices, photocatalysis reactors and biological applications thanks to their cheap price and easy scaling up.