Coconut husk waste products valorization for fabrication of luminescent titanium dioxide NPs as powerful tool for photodecomposition and food born infection: A sustainable strategy

Fabricating metal oxide nanoparticles has garnered much attention lately because creating safe chemicals, sustainable materials, economic processes, and renewable resources is becoming increasingly important. This research shows how TiO₂ nanoparticles (NPs) could be generated in an ecologically responsible way using waste coconut husk with the help of tender coconut. This extract functions as both a reducing agent and a sealing agent. The investigation of TiO₂ NPs exploited ultraviolet (UV), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) with energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) methods. The germicidal properties of TiO₂ NPs against food-borne pathogenic strains were studied using the agar well method. Employing Congo red pigment, the photodecomposition behavior was investigated. The TiO₂ NPs produced had a crystallite size measuring 16.2 nm. The average grain size of the sample, as measured by FE-SEM inspection, falls within the range of 15 to 25 nm. Impressive anti-germ effects against food-borne germs like Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes), Gram-negative (Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli) bacteria, and fungi (Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger) have been proved by the sustainable fabrication of TiO₂ NPs. The catalytic effectiveness of Congo red decreased by 88% after 90 min. The findings suggest that sustainable synthesis of TiO₂ NPs is an effective tool for food-borne germicides and photodecomposition behaviors.