Synthesis, phase transformation, and morphology of hausmannite Mn3O4 nanoparticles: photocatalytic and antibacterial investigations

Abstract

Nano structured Hausmannite (Mn₃O₄) has efficacious applications in numerous fields, such as catalytic, medical, biosensors, waste water remediation, energy storage devices etc. The potential application in wastewater treatment is due to its distinct structural features combined with fascinating physicochemical properties. Another area of interest is the oxidative properties imparted due to its reduction potential. Larger surface to volume ratio and high reactivity than the bulk form shows great progress as antimicrobial agent to control drug resistant microbial population. The distinct surface morphologies, crystalline forms, reaction conditions and synthetic methods exerts significant impact on the photo catalytic and bactericidal efficiency. Hence, the present paper focuses on a concise review of the multifarious study on synthetic methods of Mn₃O₄, growth mechanisms, structural forms, phase transformation and phase control, shape and dimensionality. The review also confers its applications towards photo catalytic and bactericidal studies.

Keywords: Antimicrobial activity; Biological sciences; Chemistry; Environmental science; Materials application; Materials chemistry; Materials property; Materials science; Methods of synthesis; Morphology; Nano hausmannite; Nanomaterials; Phase transformation; Photocatalyst.

Figure 1

SEM images of the evolution process (a–e), (f) a schematic illustration of the formation of octahedral shape Mn₃O₄ nanoparticles corresponding to the SEM images. “Reprinted from Small, 7(4), Li, Y., Haiyan, T., Yang, X., Goris, B., Verbeeck,J., Bals, S., Colson, P., Cloots, R., Tendeloo, G., Su, B., 475–483., Well shaped Mn₃O₄ nano-octahedra with anomalous magnetic template and enhanced photodecomposition properties, copyright (2011), with permission from The Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.

Figure 2

FE-SEM images of the synthesized sample by hydrothermal route involves conversion process from precursor nano rods to octahedron under different temperatures: (a, b) 120 °C; (c) 160 °C; (d) 180 °C; (e) 200 °C; and (f) TEM images of as-synthesized products at 200 °C. “Reprinted from Chemical Engineering Journal, 172(1), Ahmed, K. A., Peng, H., Wu, K., Huang, K., Hydrothermal preparation of nanostructured manganese oxides (MnOx) and their electrochemical and photocatalytic properties, 531-539, copyright (2011), with permission from Elsevier”.

Figure 3

SEM (a and b) and TEM (c and d) images of the flower-like Mn₃O₄ nano structures. Wang, Y., Zhu, L., Yang, X., Shao, E., Deng, X., Liu, N., Wu, M., 2015, Facile synthesis of three-dimensional Mn₃O₄ hierarchical microstructures and their application in the degradation of methylene blue, J. Mater. Chem. A. 3, 2934–294 -Reproduced by permission of The Royal Society of Chemistry.

Scheme 1

Scheme for the synthesis of Octahedral Mn₃O₄ [60].

Figure 4

XRD patterns of Mn₂O₃ (350–850 °C) thermal stability of Mn₂O₃ and transition from Mn₂O₃ to Mn₃O₄.“Reprinted from Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials, Volume 476 (15), Lakshmi Narayani, V., Jagadeesha Angadi, Anu Sukhdev, Malathi Challa, Shidaling Matteppanavar, Deepthi, P.R., Mohan Kumar, P., Mehaboob Pasha, Mechanism of high temperature induced phase transformation and magnetic properties of Mn₃O₄ crystallites 268-273, copyright (2019), with permission from Elsevier”.

Figure 5

General mechanistic steps for the photocatalytic degradation. “Reprinted from Photochem. Photobiol. Rev, 18, Xu Zong, Lianzhou Wang, Ion-exchangeable semiconductor materials for visible light induced photocatalaysis, 32-49, copyright (2014), with permission from Elsevier”.

Figure 6

Various mechanisms of antimicrobial activity of the metal nanoparticles.“Reprinted from Materials Science and Engineering: C, Volume 44 Solmaz Maleki Dizaj, Farzaneh Lotfipour, Mohammad Barzegar-Jalali,Mohammad Hossein Zarrintan, Khosro Adibkia, Anti-microbial activity of the metals and metal oxide nano particles. 278-284, copyright (2014), with permission from Elsevier”.