Enhanced photocatalysis and anticancer activity of green hydrothermal synthesized Ag@TiO2 nanoparticles

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles (NPs) have been doped with varying amounts (0.005, 0.010 and 0.015 M) of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) using hydrothermal method. Further, in this work, a green approach was followed for the formation of Ag@TiO2 NPs using Aloe vera gel as a capping and reducing agent. The structural property confirmed the presence of anatase phase TiO2. Increased peak intensity was observed while increasing the Ag concentration. Further, the morphological and optical properties have been studied, which confirmed the effective photocatalytic behavior of the prepared Ag@TiO2 NPs. The photocatalytic performance of Ag@TiO2 has been considered for the degradation of picric acid in the visible light region. The concentration at 0.010 M of the prepared Ag@TiO2 has achieved higher photocatalytic performance within 50 min, which could be attributed to its morphological behavior. Similarly, anticancer activity against lung cancer cell lines (A549) was also determined. The Ag@TiO2 NPs generated a large quantity of reactive oxygen species (ROS), resulting in complete cancer cell growth suppression after their systemic in vitro administration. Ag@TiO2 NPs was adsorbed visible light that leads to an enhanced anticancer sensitivity by killing and inhibiting cancer cell reproduction through cell viability assay test. It was clear that 0.015 M of Ag@TiO2 NPs were highly effective against human lung cancer cell lines and showed increased production of ROS in cancer cell lines due to the medicinal behavior of the Aloe vera gel.