Hydrothermal Synthesis of Fe-Doped Cadmium Oxide Showed Bactericidal Behavior and Highly Efficient Visible Light Photocatalysis

Cationic dyes presentin industrial effluents significantlyreducethe effectiveness of remediation operations. Considering the terribleimpact of these pollutants on environment and biodiversity, investigatingstrategies to remove potentially harmful compounds from water is becomingan increasingly intriguing issue. In this work, we employed a simplehydrothermal technique to synthesize Fe-doped CdO (2, 4, and 6 wt%) nanostructures and assessed their efficacy in degrading methyleneblue (MB) dye and inhibiting the growth of Staphylococcusaureus and Escherichia coli, respectively. Structural, morphological, and optical characterizationof produced nanomaterials was also performed using X-ray diffraction,TEM, and UV absorption spectra. The photocatalytic decomposition ofMB was significantly enhanced (58.8%) by using Fe (6 wt %)-doped CdOcatalysts for 80 min under irradiation. In addition, 2.05-5.05mm inhibitory zones were seen against Gram-positive bacteria (S. aureus), whereas the range for Gram-negative bacteria(E. coli) was 1.65-2.75 mm.These nanostructures were shown to be very effective inhibitors ofbeta-lactamase, d-alanine-d-alanine ligase B, andfatty acid synthase inhibitor by in silico molecular docking investigations.