Fabrication of PVA/ZnO/TiO ₂ Nanocomposite Biofilm for Multifunctional Applications

ABSTRACT ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized using a modified Sol–Gel procedure, while TiO 2 NPs were synthesized using a hydrothermal method. To enhance the physical, mechanical, anticorrosive, and electrical properties of Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), ZnO/TiO 2 NCs were introduced. Synergistic anticorrosive, magnetic, photocatalytic, mechanical, and biodegradable properties of biofilm were examined. The structural characteristics and optical behavior of PVA/ZnO/TiO 2 NCs biofilm were investigated using UV–visible spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X‐ray (EDX) spectroscopy, powder X‐ray diffraction (p‐XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) techniques. According to the p‐XRD and SEM methods, the average particle size was 80 nm. The NCs‐based biodegradable film demonstrated notable corrosion inhibition efficiency for the aluminum sheet (99.01% in 1.0 M HCl at a concentration of 100 ppm). A magnetic susceptibility of 0.95 proves the paramagnetic character of the biofilm. The energy band gap, assessed by the Tauc plot, was 5.2 eV, which proves the semiconductor nature of the biofilm. The photocatalytic activity of PVA/ZnO and PVA/TiO 2 films were investigated against methylene blue (MB) and methyl orange (MO) dyes, respectively in UV light. The PVA/ZnO NCs biofilms show good photocatalytic activity (70%) against MB dye in 70 min. The PVA/ZnO/TiO 2 NCs biofilms exhibit remarkable flexibility, which enables them to undergo bending and rolling, leading to their use in food packaging due to their anticorrosive, photocatalytic, and magnetic qualities.