Environmental Research 197 (2021) 111115 Available online 1 April 2021 0013-9351/© 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Synergetic effect of Sn doped ZnO nanoparticles synthesized via ultrasonication technique and its photocatalytic and antibacterial activity Steplinpaulselvin Selvinsimpson a , P. Gnanamozhi b , V. Pandiyan b , Mani Govindasamy c , Mohamed A. Habila c, ** , Najla AlMasoud d , Yong Chen a, * a School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China b PG and Research Department of Physics, Nehru Memorial College, Tiruchirappalli, 620017, Tamil Nadu, India c Advanced Materials Research Chair Chemistry Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia d Department of Chemistry, College of Science, Princess Nourah Bint Abdulrahman University, Riyadh, 11671, Saudi Arabia A R T I C L E INFO Keywords: Ultrasonication ZnO Tin Water treatment Antibacterial activity ABSTRACT The current work reports the photocatalytic and antibacterial performance of tin (Sn) doped zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles synthesized via ultrasonic aided co-precipitation technique. The increase of Sn concentration decreased the lattice parameter and increased the crystallite size without changing the ZnO structure. The hexagonal shaped particles and sheets obtained for 3% and 5% Sn substituted ZnO, respectively. The increase of dopant concentration reduced the refectance and optical band gap energy of Sn doped ZnO. The vibrational band present at 1443 cm 1 confrmed the successful bond formation of Sn–O–Zn. The 5% Sn doped ZnO nanoparticles exhibited greater dye elimination rate of methylene blue compared to 3% Sn. The antibacterial activity of Sn doped ZnO showed the higher zone of inhibition about 14 mm against different pathogens. The 5% Sn doped ZnO photocatalyst improve the transfer rate of photo excite carrier and decrease the rate of recom- bination which greatly infuence on the photocatalytic and antibacterial performance. 1. Introduction Release of wastewater from various industries includes textile, leather, pharmaceuticals and personal care products which cause haz- ardous pollution to the environment (Kumar et al., 2014; Zhu et al., 2020). Wastewater from these industries directly mix into the water bodies without any prior process can cause various disorders. Because it contains various organic dyes and bacteria which contaminate the water bodies and creates severe issues to the living organisms. Combination of organic dyes and bacteria could cause contamination contamination in the water bodies which results in the death of living organism in the water environment especially aquatic fora, fauna and fsh (Khin et al., 2012; Kuhn et al., 2019; Kumar et al., 2016; Lim et al., 2013; Sharma et al., 2010). The use of contaminated water shows various health effects such as respiratory, nervous and skin issues to the animals and human beings. So, it is an urgency for environmental remediation to eradicate the dyes and bacteria with modern techniques. Photocatalyst is an effcient and cost-effective method to degrade the dyes completely in ambient reaction conditions without any secondary pollution. Metal oxide semiconductor has been extensively used in photocatalyst water splitting, air purifcation, gas sensors and other applications. Among various metal oxide semiconductors, zinc oxide has been extensively used as photocatalyst and antibiotic due to wide band gap, stability, conductivity, nontoxic and abundancy. Moreover, it is easy to tune the band gap energy. Zinc oxide is used as antibiotic, preservative and also it is used in drug delivery, packaging, purifcation of water and skin coating from the olden days because it serves as a charge trapping sites to kill the bacteria and degrade the toxic dyes (Hirota et al., 2010; Martha et al., 2014; Ohira et al., 2008; Wei et al., 2019). Several efforts have been widely practiced to increase the photocatalytic and antibac- terial ability of ZnO in the visible light (Kannadasan et al., 2014; Khanchandani et al., 2012; Pascariu and Homocianu, 2019). To increase the photocatalytic and the antibacterial activity of the ZnO material, Sn is replaced in the Zn lattice through the electronegativity and ionic radii. Vasanthi et al. (2013) reported that doping Sn increases the antibacterial activity against E. coli. Siva et al. (2020) also reported that doping of Sn * Corresponding author. ** Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: Mhabila@ksu.edu.sa (M.A. Habila), ychen@hust.edu.cn (Y. Chen). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Environmental Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/envres https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.111115 Received 13 January 2021; Received in revised form 2 March 2021; Accepted 29 March 2021