Rod-like structure of cotton cellulose/polyvinyl alcohol/tellurium dioxide (Teo ₂ ) hybrid nanocomposite and antimicrobial properties

We report on the in situ synthesis through sol-gel processing of a tellurium dioxide (TeO ₂ )– cellulose–polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) hybrid composite. The cellulose–PVA hybrid composite was synthesized through chemical graft in the presence of aqueous sodium hydroxide. Field emission scanning electron microscopy, SEM-EDX, high-resolution transition microscopy (FE-TEM) revealed that polycrystalline nanorods were uniformly distributed with sizes of 20 nm in the cotton cellulose–PVA–TeO ₂ hybrid nanocomposite. The average size of TeO ₂ crystallite was calculated to be 0.292 nm, as shown in the FE-TEM, SAED, and X-ray diffraction analysis. Furthermore, the hybrid nanocomposites were studied for their antimicrobial activity against Bacillus cereus and Escherichia coli strains, which was inhibited at a size of 10–12 mm after 24 h of incubation.