Antimicrobial Investigation of CuO and ZnO Nanoparticles Prepared by a Rapid Combustion Method

Abstract

In recent years, fabrication of metal oxide nanoparticles is intensively gaining the interest of various chemists as well as biochemist due to their applications in different fields. Among all the transition metal oxides, CuO and ZnO are the important metal oxide nanoparticles exhibiting tremendous properties and a wide range of applications. Both CuO and ZnO nanoparticles were prepared by combustion method effectively with very less time. The combustion of copper (II) nitrate and urea at stoichiometric ratio results in CuO nanoparticles. Similarly, combustion of zinc (II) nitrate and urea at stoichiometric ratio results in ZnO nanoparticles. Both CuO and ZnO nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction to study the different phases present in them. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is used to study the microstructure and the composition of prepared metal oxide nanoparticles was studied by using energy dispersive spectroscopy attached to SEM. The optical studies were carried out by using UV-Visible spectrophotometer. Particle size analyzer is used to determine the mean average particle size of prepared metal oxide nanoparticles. CuO and ZnO NPs were applied to gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria using Minimum Inhibition Concentration (MIC) assay and demonstrated an essential antibacterial effect.