Synergistic Effects of Nickel and Antimony Integration into V2O5 Matrix: Insights into Microstructural Evolution, Oxygen Defect-Mediated Photoluminescence, Lattice Dynamics and Enhanced Antimicrobial Activity
摘要
Multiphase compounds exhibiting a prominent orthorhombic V2O5 structure have been developed using the empirical formula V2−xNi2xSbxO5−δ (0.05 ≤ x ≤ 0.08). Microstructure and surface chemistry analyses confirm that the incorporation of Ni and Sb in the V2O5 matrix results in the formation of new phases corresponding to the foreign cations. Raman analysis shows the excitation of 12 active phonon modes with Ґ-Raman = 6Ag + 2B1g + 2B2g +1B3g + 1, with 11 vibrational modes specifically characterizing the α-polymorphic form of orthorhombic V2O5. The photoluminescence spectrum near-band edge blue-green emissions is accompanied by broad peaks at 541 nm and 564 nm. The decrease in PL intensity with the increasing phase composition of SbVO4 and NiV2O6 indicates improved separation of photogenerated charge carriers, which suppresses electron–hole recombination and facilitates the generation of reactive oxygen species. The synthesized materials exhibit strong, broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against both fungal and bacterial strains. The inhibition zone diameters increase with molar fraction (x), reaching maximum values for Aspergillus niger (25 mm), Penicillium sp. (19 mm), Staphylococcus aureus (18 mm), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (20 mm), and Escherichia coli (15 mm).