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The chitosan-copper oxide (Chi-CuO) biopolymer nanocomposites were synthesized by a simple green chemistry method using ascorbic acid as a reducing and capping agent. The intense peak around 300 nm was observed in the UV-visible spectrum indicating the formation of CuO nanoparticles. The prepared Chi-CuO nanocomposites were characterized using energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), and Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). SEM and XRD pattern showed cubic shape for Chi-CuO nanocomposites with average crystalline size of 17 nm, as calculated using Debye-Scherrer's formula. The FT-IR spectral studies showed the Cu-O bond formation with chitosan to form nanocomposites. Synthesized nanocomposites showed significant anti-microbial activity against Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli and Penicillium notatum, assayed using the agar well diffusion method. It also showed sporicidal activity against B. subtilis and exhibited effective biofilminhibitory activity against B. subtilis (69%/100 μg/mL) and P. aeruginosa (63%/100 μg/mL).

In recent years, scientific community has an interest on nanometer sized materials with unique physical, chemical, and biological properties. Nano-copper oxide is very interested because of their potential applications in many fields such as heterogeneous catalysts, anti-microbial, antioxidants, imaging agents and drug delivery agents in field of biomedicine. Nanoparticles (NPs) can interact with biomolecules and it has useful in diagnosis and treatment cancer. Green synthesized CuO NPs have being used as photocatalyst, enhanced the rates of textile dye decolourisation, anti-microbial agent and better anti-cancer compound with minimal side effects. CuO NPs can also act as efficient anti-bacterial agent when incorporated in coatings, plastics, textiles, etc.

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