Screening of In Vitro Antibacterial Property of Hematite (α-Fe2O3) Nanoparticles: A Green Approach

Abstract

This study explores the fabrication of hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanoparticles utilizing aqueous extracts of Plectranthus amboinicus, which act as reducing and stabilizing agents. The prepared hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanoparticles have been characterized by TGA, PXRD, FT-IR, Raman, DRS UV–visible, Photoluminescence, SEM, Particle size distribution, and zeta potential measurements (DLS), respectively. According to the XRD reports, hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanoparticles are rhombohedral with a crystallite size of 7.0 nm. As of the FT-IR spectrum, the peaks attained at 544 and 447 cm−1 are attributes of Fe–O stretching in α-Fe2O3. As a result of Raman analysis, the existence of vibration modes of hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanoparticles was confirmed. Through the DRS UV–visible reflectance, the bandgap energy of hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanoparticles was detected to be 2.0 eV. The photoluminescence spectrum shows band edge emission at 552 nm. The morphology of hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanoparticles was aggregated with dense irregular shape and highly porous. Particle size distribution and zeta potential value of hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanoparticles were reported at 40 nm and − 35 mV, respectively. These nanoparticles exhibit strong antibacterial activity at a concentration of 30 μg/mL and also exhibit substantial minimum inhibition concentration value for gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The proposed strategy is therefore rapid, simple, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly which can be employed for the fabrication of hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanoparticles and can be used as a potent antibacterial agent.