Engineered Nanostructured Materials for Antimicrobial and Photocatalytic Applications

Abstract

Nanoparticles are broad spectrum antimicrobial and photocatalytic agents. This chapter reports the synthesis of few nanoparticles (ZnO, Ag, Cu-doped ZnO) for antibacterial and photocatalytic applications. The size and surface area of nanomaterials are important parameters which makes them superior than bulk materials for their antimicrobial action. In this chapter, biosynthesized ZnO nanoparticles (diameter ranging from 10 to 25 nm), Cu-doped ZnO nanorods (length ~500 nm, diameter ~50 nm), and biosynthesized Ag nanoparticles were used for antimicrobial activity. Samples were characterized by UV–Vis spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Antimicrobial activity of samples is studied by shake flask method, Disk diffusion assay, and cytotoxicity by MTT assay. The significant antimicrobial activity of nanoparticles was observed for various strains like Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Streptococcus pyogenes as a function of nanoparticle concentration. The degradation of methylene blue (MB) was used as a model organic dye for photocatalytic activity. The present study demonstrates the superior photocatalytic and antibacterial activity of few nanoparticles.