Novel nanocomposite made of calcium zinc silicate/ NiO2 for biomedical applications

Abstract

The novel nanocomposites of ZnO-containing CaSiO3/NiO2 were prepared through the wet precipitation method. The XRD of samples sintered at 1100 °C/2 h presented variable phases, mainly hardystonite (Ca2ZnSi2O7) with two secondary phases of willemite (Zn2SiO4) and tridymite (SiO2). Similarly, small diffraction peaks of peroxide nickel oxide (NiO2) arose in samples containing significant concentrations of it. All composites were crystallized in the nano-range, and their particle sizes (Ps) range from 60 to 70 nm. According to the morphological investigation, the percentage of NiO2 increased grain size. The optical result assured that the willemite phase has an optical band gap of 5.35–5.58 eV and a minor transition at ∼3.4 eV. While NiO2 had a small transition found at 1.7 ± 0.05 eV. The lattice vibrations of Ca–O, the stretching of the C–O group in CaCO3, and the Si–O symmetric stretching were affected by the NiO2 concentration, as evident from the Raman spectra. Nevertheless, the FTIR result revealed that the increasing NiO2 concentration did not affect the stretching and bending vibrations of the composites. The values of moment/g increased with NiO2, and two magnetic contributions were revealed. The concentration of NiO2 in the composite was shown to be connected to the composite's ability to suppress the various microbiological strains tested. There is no detectable inhibitory impact when the sample's NiO2 content is less than 3%. This research topic provides an opportunity to look into novel materials with possible antimicrobial uses for infection prevention in biological fields, such as bone repair.