https://doi.org/10.1140/epjs/s11734-026-02157-6
Regular Article
Study of spinel-based nanocomposites
1
Basic Science Department, Higher Institute of Applied Arts 5thSettlement, 11835, New Cairo, Egypt
2
Physics Department, Faculty of Science, Cairo University, 12613, Giza, Egypt
a
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Received:
24
October
2025
Accepted:
21
January
2026
Published online:
3
March
2026
Abstract
Novel multifunctional nanocomposites 0.3CoFe2O4/0.7Ag0.5Cr2.5O4 (Co) and 0.3CuFe2O4/0.7Ag0.5Cr2.5O4 (Cu) were prepared using the flash auto-combustion technique. The crystallite size was calculated from an X-ray diffraction pattern (XRD), and the morphology was studied using atomic force microscopy (AFM). The structural properties were analyzed to ensure the nanoscale nature of the samples. The Co nanocomposite exhibited a 5.7-fold larger coercivity (Hc) and a 2.6-fold larger saturation magnetization (Ms) than the Cu nanocomposite. Moreover, the high-frequency applications of Co nanocomposite suggest its suitability in the super high frequency range in the microwave range at the S band, whereas the Cu nanocomposite is more suitable for ultra-high frequency in the microwave region at the L band. The materials showed a strong synergistic anti-bacterial activity, with the Co nanocomposite achieving a minimum inhibitory concentration of 31.22 μg/ml against Salmonella typhimurium and Bacillus Subtilis. Furthermore, cytotoxicity tests of the optimal nanocomposite revealed low toxicity against normal Vero cells (CC50 = 280.4 ± 19.3 μg/ml) and selective anti-cancer activity against HepG-2 cells (IC50 = 26.7 ± 2.31 μg/ml). Thus, the investigated samples are strongly recommended to be anti-bacterial nanomaterials.
© The Author(s) 2026
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
