The synthesis of a multifunctional composite using Fe₂O₃ and ZnO endowed with antioxidant and antibacterial properties for the adsorption of chromium(VI) ions was reported. Typical approaches of eliminating metal ions from wastewater focus on removing only the contaminants. In this research, a composite was developed that is not only highly efficient in removing Cr(VI) ions but also imparts antibacterial and antioxidant properties to the treated water. The characterizations of the composite were conducted using powder X-ray diffraction (pXRD), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy-Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET). BET surface area revealed that the sheet-like Fe₂O₃ were present alongside hexagonal ZnO rods. The adsorption data corroborated well with Freundlich isotherm (R²= 0.99844) better than the Langmuir model (R²= 0.97993) indicating the prevalence of multi-layer sorption. Pseudo-second-order kinetics model described the adsorption process well implying chemisorption was the major contributor to the adsorption capacity. The composite exhibited additional useful character by inhibiting up to 12% of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radicals when used in the concentration range of 10–50 µL. It also showed antibacterial property by removing more than 99% of Staphylococcus aureus after an exposure time of six hours. It is proposed that Fe₂O₃–ZnO composite may be highly effective for multi-purpose water treatment.

用Fe ₂ O ₃合成多功能复合材料并报道了具有抗氧化和抗菌性能的ZnO用于吸附六价铬离子。从废水中去除金属离子的典型方法集中在仅去除污染物上。在这项研究中，开发了一种复合材料，该复合材料不仅可以高效去除Cr（VI）离子，而且还可以为处理后的水赋予抗菌和抗氧化性能。使用粉末X射线衍射（pXRD），傅立叶变换红外光谱（FTIR），扫描电子显微镜-能量色散X射线光谱（SEM-EDS），透射电子显微镜（TEM）对复合材料进行表征X射线光电子能谱（XPS）和Brunauer–Emmett–Teller（BET）。BET表面积显示出片状Fe ₂ O _3。与六角形ZnO棒并存。Freundlich等温线（R ²= 0.99844）优于Langmuir模型（R ²= 0.97993），表明多层吸附的普遍性。伪二级动力学模型描述的吸附过程很好地暗示了化学吸附是吸附能力的主要贡献者。当在10–50 µL的浓度范围内使用时，该复合物通过抑制高达12％的1,1-二苯基-2-甲基苯并肼基（DPPH）自由基而显示出额外的有用特性。在六个小时的暴露时间后，它还通过去除超过99％的金黄色葡萄球菌而显示出抗菌性能。提出Fe ₂ O ₃ -ZnO复合材料可能对多用途水处理非常有效。