Modern Chemistry & Applications

Abstract

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

Hossein Bayahia, Mohammed Saad Mutlaq Al-Ghamdi, M Shamshi Hassan and Touseef Amna

The comparative antibacterial activity of ZnO and ZnO-Cu₂O composite nanoparticles has been investigated and presented in this manuscript. The present study describes the facile synthesis of pristine ZnO nanoparticles and ZnO-Cu₂O composite nanoparticles respectively. ZnO nanoparticles and ZnO-Cu₂O 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-Cu₂O composite nanoparticles lies between 200 to 600 nm respectively as observed from SEM images. Herein, we scrutinized the influence of Cu₂O 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-Cu₂O 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-Cu₂O composite nanoparticles than the pure ZnO nanoparticles.