Effects of ZnO nanoparticles on the antifungal performance of Fe₃O₄/ZnO nanocomposites prepared from natural sand

In the present study, the eco-friendly and economical methods have been developed by employing natural iron sand as a main precursor to create Fe3O4/ZnO nanocomposites (NCs). The formation of Fe3O4/ZnO NCs was confirmed using XRD, synchrotron-based SAXS, FTIR spectroscopy, and SEM. The XRD results revealed that the Fe3O4 and ZnO crystallised spinel cubic and hexagonal wurtzite structures. The SAXS results exposed the construction of fractal dimension with the values of 3.20-3.70, which indicated a compact structure in 3-dimensions. The SEM images showed that the morphology of the samples tended to agglomerate in nanometric size. The FTIR spectra proved the presence of the Fe-O and Zn-O bonds as the main components of the NCs. The UV-vis spectroscopy analysis revealed that the bandgap energy of the Fe3O4/ZnO NCs ranged from 2.244 to 3.533 eV. Furthermore, the Fe3O4/ZnO NCs demonstrated superparamagnetic behaviour with the blocking temperature below 212 K, and their saturation magnetisation increased with increasing Fe3O4 content. Interestingly, all samples demonstrated excellent inhibitory performance against C. albicans, which indicates that the Fe3O4/ZnO NCs synthesised by eco-friendly and economical methods from natural iron sand for the first time are novel candidates for use as high-performance antifungal agents.