OICC Press Journal of Nanostructure in Chemistry 2193-8865 12 5 (October 2022) 2021 10 12 Efficient dye degradation, antimicrobial behavior and molecular docking analysis of gold (Au) and cellulose nanocrystals (CNC)-doped strontium oxide nanocomposites 10.1007/s40097-021-00452-3 EN Muhammad Ikram Solar Cell Application Research Lab, Department of Physics, Government College University Lahore, Lahore, Punjab, 54000, PK Shahida Abbas Physics Department, Lahore Garrison University Lahore, Lahore, Punjab, 54000, PK Ali Haider Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Punjab, 54000, PK Sadia Naz Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, 300308, CN S. O. A. Ahmad Solar Cell Application Research Lab, Department of Physics, Government College University Lahore, Lahore, Punjab, 54000, PK Junaid Haider Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Tianjin, 300308, CN Anwar Ul-Hamid Core Research Facilities, Research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, 31261, SA Anum Shahzadi Faculty of Pharmacy, The University of Lahore, Lahore, PK Iram Shahzadi Punjab College of Pharmacy, University of the Punjab, Lahore, 54000, PK Alvina Rafiq Butt Solar Cell Application Research Lab, Department of Physics, Government College University Lahore, Lahore, Punjab, 54000, PK Journal Article 2021 10 12 Abstract Novel Au and cellulose nanocrystals (CNC)-doped SrO nanocomposites have been fabricated using simple and cost-effective chemical co-precipitation technique. Various concentrations of Au were doped into fixed amounts of CNC and SrO nanocomposites. The objective of this triplex nanocomposite was to examine the effect of incorporating dopants in SrO on the efficient elimination of organic contaminants from water and their antibacterial potential with molecular docking study. Adequate experimental conditions such as temperature, suitable volume ratio of reactants and pH were generated during the synthesis. For comparative studies, nanocomposites were evaluated through a number of characterization tools. The structural and morphological analysis through XRD and HR-TEM revealed the cubic crystalline structure of aggregated SrO quantum dots (QDs). Furthermore, an interconnected chain-like structure of nanoclusters was observed upon CNC and Au incorporation in SrO lattice. The size of nanoclusters/nanoparticles was calculated to be approximately 30 nm which matched well with the reported literature. Reduction in crystallinity and bandgap from 4.12 eV (for pristine SrO) to 3.8 eV was observed upon co-doping with CNC and Au in SrO lattice. Furthermore, pH-based catalytic analysis of prepared nanocomposites revealed 98% dye degradation (in acidic media) against methylene blue ciprofloxacin (MBCF) dye along with good bactericidal activities against Gram-positive/negative bacteria, respectively. In silico molecular docking analysis for enzyme targets belonging to cell wall synthesis (penicillin-binding protein 4) and fatty acid synthesis (enoyl-[acyl-carrier-protein] reductase) suggested Au–CNC and Au/CNC-doped SrO nanostructures as possible inhibitors of these enzymes owing to their good binding scores and binding interactions with active site residues. Graphic abstract (a) Preparation of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) by acid hydrolysis. (b) Schematic synthesis route to fabricate Au/CNC–SrO nanocomposites.