Facile Synthesis of ZnO-Cu2O Composite Nanoparticles and Effect of Cu2O Doping in ZnO on Antimicrobial Activity

Abstract

The comparative antibacterial activity of ZnO and ZnO-Cu 2 O composite nanoparticles has been investigated and presented in this manuscript. The present study describes the facile synthesis of pristine ZnO nanoparticles and ZnO-Cu 2 O composite nanoparticles respectively. ZnO nanoparticles and ZnO-Cu 2 O composite nanoparticles have been synthesized by simple solution process using zinc nitrate hexahydrate and copper acetate as sole precursor. The diameter of each ZnO and ZnO-Cu 2 O composite nanoparticles lies between 200 to 600 nm respectively as observed from SEM images. Herein, we scrutinized the influence of Cu 2 O doping in ZnO on the antibacterial activity. The E. coli bacteria which are generally ever-present have been chosen as the model organisms for relative study. The experimental procedures for the antibacterial test include spectroscopic method, taking different concentrations (10-40 μg/ml) of samples to unearth the minimum inhibitory concentration. Our analysis says that the minimum concentration of ZnO and ZnO-Cu 2 O composite nanoparticles which inhibited the growth of E. coli bacteria was found to be 10 μg. A mechanism was also proposed to describe the better antibacterial activity of the ZnO-Cu 2 O composite nanoparticles than the pure ZnO nanoparticles.

Electrochemical Characterization and Detection of Lead in Water Using SPCE Modified with BiONPs/PANI

“…The appearance of two distinguishable peaks at around 360 nm and 470 nm for the colloidal ZnO NPs and CuO NPs for both CPEs, respectively, suggests the formation of a core-shell NPs [ 43 , 44 , 45 ]. This result agrees with the finding reported by Bayahia [ 46 ] and Bae [ 47 ]. The computed band gaps using Tauc plots for ZnO were 3.34 eV, and 3.30 eV for the OPE, and LPE BiONPs, respectively.…”