LAUSR

The cost-effective novel Ag-doped (1–7%) (CuO–Cu2O)Cu (C3) heterostructured nanocomposites are successfully synthesized by the facile solution combustion process using the Leucas aspera extract as a green fuel. The structural properties of fabricated nanocomposites were well-characterized by specific spectral techniques for enhanced electrochemical sensor detection, antibacterial activities, and sunlight-driven photocatalytic dye decoloration studies. The existence of Ag+ ions has been confirmed by the appearance of two peaks of Ag 3d5/2 (367.9 eV) and Ag 3d3/2 (373.9 eV), with the chemical binding nature and exchange of the Ag+ state in the nanocomposite lattice as revealed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. The energy band gap value of the doped nanocomposite decreases from 2.2 to 1.8 eV, as measured by the UV–visible absorption spectral technique, hindering the recombination of electron–holes pairs by trapping e– and h+. This result supports that the C3Ag5 nanocomposite has a great potential as a sunlight photocatalyst toward the Alizarin Red (AR) dye, for which an excellent degradation activity of 98% at 180 min was achieved compared to that of the host nanocomposite (78% at 180 min). The variation of redox peak potentials of the prepared graphite nanocomposite working electrode is an effective tool for paracetamol sensing activity in 0.1 M KCl using electrochemical spectral studies. In addition, the antibacterial activities of the C3Ag5 nanocomposite against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were successfully studied. The C3Ag5 nanocomposite exhibited a better performance than C3. The increase in activity is attributed to the presence of Ag as a dopant.