ZnO-CuO nanocomposites: Synthesis, characterization and antibacterial activity

Abstract

Nanotechnology deals with the study of manipulation of the materials on molecular or an atomic scale. Nanomaterials and nanocomposites possess unique characteristics such as miniature particle sizes with a close particle size distribution properties and pose as a highly dispersed and non-agglomerative mass. The typical blend and diverse characteristics of these particles prove to be of added advantage in typical applications such as medical and pharmaceutical treatments for bacterial infections. This paper describes the detailed process of synthesizing nanocomposite oxide mixtures of copper and zinc through the sol-gel formulation route technique. The particle size distribution is assessed using Brunauer-Emmett-Teller and Scanning Electron Microscopy analysis. The mineralogical analysis of the nano-composite is carried out using X-Ray Fluorescence and X-Ray Diffraction techniques. The synthesized ZnO-CuO particles possess antibacterial properties against both gram-(positive/negative) bacteria and hence, they exhibited good results on E.coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.