SYNTHESIS OF ZnO NANOGEL FOR THE TREATMENT OF SUPERFICIAL SKIN MICROBIAL INFECTIONS

Abstract

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanogel is an antimicrobial gel comprising of ZnO nanoparticles. Since, in nanoparticles, the surface to volume ratio is very large, therefore, ZnO nanogel is more effective for the treatment of superficial skin microbial infections as compared to other gels comprising ZnO and that has processed through traditional methods. Generally, infected skins are affected by bacterial strains which are attached to the surface of the skin by forming biofilms. The cause of attachment of these biofilms with the skin may be due to the electrostatic, vander walls, dipole-dipole and H-bonding hydrophobic types of interactions. ZnO nanogel when applied to the microbial infected skin reduces the microbial adhesion and biofilm formation. This screening characteristic of gel is due to the presence of ZnO nanoparticles of pore diameter 12.4 nm in the gel. The nanoparticles of ZnO is synthesized using sol-gel method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and high resolution transmission scanning electron microscopy (HRTEM). The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) data tells that ZnO nanoparticles of such a small pore diameter inhibit the growth of microbes present on the skin surface.