Revista de Nanomedicina y Nanotecnología

Abstracto

Synthesis and Characterizations of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles for Antibacterial Applications

Getie S, Belay A, Chandra Reddy AR and Belay Z

In this study various shapes and sizes of the wurtzite structure of ZnO nanoparticles were synthesised via a wet chemical method for antibacterial applications. The synthesised ZnO NPs were also modified using biologically active compound, caffeine. The ZnO nanoparticles were investigated by XRD, SEM, FTIR, UV-Vis and Fluorescence spectroscopy. The average crystallite size of the ZnO NPs using XRD was within the ranges of 28.09-31.86 nm. The shape of ZnO NPs synthesised from Zn (NO3)2.6H2O, ZnCl2 and Zn (CH3COO)2.2H2O grain, spherical and rod-like respectively. The variations in size and shape of ZnO NPs are due to the difference in precursors and calcinations temperature. The absorption peak of the ZnO NPs was observed at 278 nm, 374 nm and 378 nm for ZnCl2, Zn (NO3)2.6H2O and Zn (CH3COO)2.2H2O respectively. The FTIR peaks due to vibrational phonons of ZnO NPs also confirm the successful production of ZnO nanoparticles. The emission spectra of ZnO NPs were observed in ultraviolet due to the electronic transition from conduction band edge to valence band, and visible emission band due to defects that are related to deep level emissions. The synthesised ZnO NPs were applied for antibacterial activity against S. aureus and E. coli bacteria using agar disc diffusion method. All the three ZnO Nps performed better antibacterial activity than the standard antibiotics and also S. aureus was shown to be more sensitive to ZnO NPs than E. coli.