Structural, optical and antibacterial activity studies of Ce-doped ZnO nanoparticles prepared by wet-chemical method

Abstract

In this paper, pure and rare earth (Cerium) doped ZnO nanoparticles were synthesized via simple wet-chemical technique at low temperature. The structural analyses were carried out by Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) and it is reveal that the synthesized nanoparticles were well-crystalline and possessing hexagonal wurtzite structure. HR-SEM images depicted the homogenous spherical shaped ZnO nanoparticles. EDX analysis confirmed the presence of Ce ions into ZnO lattice. UV–Visible absorption spectra showed that the optical band gap value of pure ZnO decreased by Ce doping. PL spectra confirmed that the effective Ce doping enhances the visible emission and suppresses the near band gap emission. The presence of functional groups was confirmed by employing FT-IR and Raman spectroscopy studies. The bactericidal efficiency of Ce doped ZnO nanoparticles were investigated against a Gram positive (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram negative bacteria (Proteus mirabilis, Salmonella typhi).