Fabrication of ZnO /Ag Nanocomposite and Their Antibacterial Activities

Abstract

The ZnO nano powder has been successfully synthesized by a simple hydrothermal technique using zinc acetate and Triethanolamine (TEA) as surfactant agents. The resultant powder was annealed at 140 ᵒC for 12 hours. The as – synthesized ZnO nanopowder was then mixed with AgNO3 to prepare ZnO /Ag nanocomposites. The structural, morphological, and optical properties were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and UV-Visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis). The characterization results confirm that Ag nanoparticles (NPs) have been covered the ZnO hexagonal NPs, and show the red shift with the peak centered at 334 nm, which is due to the interfacial electron coupling between ZnO and Ag NPs, the surface Plasmon peak centered at 403 nm was detected along with the excitonic peak of ZnO confirming the formation of ZnO /Ag nanocomposite. The antibacterial effect of ZnO / Ag nanocomposites was studied for Gram- negative (E.coli) and Gram– positive (Staphylococcus aureus), which showed that the diameter of the inhibition zone of pathogenic bacteria about 15 mm for E.coli and did not show any activity for Staphylococcus aureus.