Synthesis and Characterization of FeWO4/BiOCl Nanocomposites for Photocatalysis and Cytotoxicity in CHO Cell Line

A novel FeWO4/BiOCl nanocomposite was prepared by hydrothermal route of synthesis and characterized by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), powder X-ray diffraction (pXRD) and UV-visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-Vis DRS). Photocatalytic activity was evaluated by photocatalytic degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) under the irradiation of visible light. The biological activities such as cytotoxicity were investigated by propidium iodide (PI), a fluorescent dye, uptake and cellular uptake studies. The 15 wt.% FeWO4/BiOCl photocatalysts degraded 98% (RhB, 10 wt.%), whose degradation rate was 3.92 times and 7.34 times higher than that of BiOCl and FeWO4 photocatalysts, respectively. The synthesized FeWO4/BiOCl nanocomposite showed the cytotoxicity to Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cells at concentration increase from 1 µg/mL to 75 µg/mL. In case of cellular uptake studies, FeWO4/BiOCl nanoparticles shows decreases cell viability after 24 h of exposure, as the concentration increase from 1-100 µg/mL.