Impact of magnesium addition in zinc oxide matrix for enhanced structural, optical, antimicrobial and anticancer properties

Abstract

In the present work, low cost, high efficiency and multifunctional inorganic biocidal (antibacterial and anticancer) materials such as ZnO, MgO and MgZnO nanocomposites (NCs) have been developed with a facile precipitation process. XRD studies confirmed that the prepared NCs exhibit hexagonal, face-centered cubic and hexagonal structures respectively. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images revealed spherical shaped ZnO, MgO and MgZnO NCs. The elemental (Zn, Mg and O) compositions of the prepared NMs were identified using EDAX spectra. The photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the prepared NMs revealed oxygen vacancies at 487 nm, 500 nm and 524 nm respectively. They correspond to the active free radicals (OH, O2 and H2O2) production and these results were responsible for their biocidal activities. Furthermore, the biocidal effects of the MgZnO NCs were studied on the human breast cancer cell line and microbes. The cell viability studies proved that MgZnO NCs possess higher anticancer properties than ZnO and MgO NMs. Overall results displayed that the MgZnO NCs exposed better biocidal effects than ZnO and MgO NMs which can be used for biomedical and industrial applications to improve human health conditions.