An Effective Antimicrobial Effect by Silver Doped Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Prepared by Co-precipitation Method

Abstract

In the present work nanoparticles of silver (Ag) doped zinc oxide(ZnO) were successfully synthesized by the Co-precipitation method using zinc sulphate and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as the precursor materials. Ethylene glycol (EG) and (NaOH + Na2CO3) were used for the homogeneity and to maintain the pH value of the solution. It helps to make a stoichiometric solution of silver-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles. The samples were characterized by XRD, FTIR, DRS-UV, and FE-SEM with EDX. Antimicrobial activity was also studied for the synthesized material. XRD results show that the calcination temperature significantly affected the average particle size which indicates that undoped and Ag-doped ZnO crystals are in a hexagonal wurtzite structure. The antibacterial activity of the prepared samples was reported against pathogenic organisms like Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus aureus, (Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria) and for fungus Aspergillus, Candida, and Mucorsps, for all the compounds. These nanoparticles which have antimicrobial properties can be used in food preservation packing materials.