Aims:
The aim of this research work is to synthesise, study and analyse photocatalytic degradation, kinetics and
microbial activity of new surfactant Copper (II) soya urea complex(CSU).
Background:
Photocatalytic degradation has attracted the attention of scientific community throughout the world due to its
multiple applications in environment, energy, waste water treatment, pollution control, green chemistry, etc. Copper (II)
soya urea complex has been synthesized and characterized through FT-IR, NMR, ESR studies.
Objective:
Present work deals with the study of photocatalytic degradation of Copper (II) soya urea complex by using ZnO
as semiconductor. This study employs a semiconductor catalyst using non polar and non aqueous solvent in photocatalytic
degradation. Reaction rate is chosen as the photocatalytic activity, which has been governed by several factors. Antibacterial
activities of Copper (II) complex have also been studied against Staphylococcus aureus.
Method:
Optical density (O.D.) was measured after different time intervals spectrophotometrically to measure the degradation of complex.
Mueller-Hinton agar medium was used for antimicrobial activity of synthesized compound at different concentrations by
disk/ well diffusion susceptibility testing.
Result:
Plot of 2+log O.D. (absorbance) versus time was plotted and found linear. The heterogeneous photocatalysis followed pseudo-first-order reaction kinetics.The present study suggests that Copper (II) soya urea (CSU) complex shows antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus at different concentrations.
Conclusion:
The results were used to determine the rate of photocatalytic degradation of CSU complex .It has been found
that rate of degradation varies with different parameters like concentration of complex, amount of catalyst, light intensity,
solvent polarity etc. CSU complex derived from soyabean oil has been shown an inhibitory effect on the growth of S. aureus
which may causes skin disease.
