Tuning the Physical Properties of Ag and ZnO Nanoparticles to be Applied in Various Applications

Abstract

Silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) accompanied by zincite (ZnO) and hematite (Fe2O3) (Ag-Z-H) at different annealing temperatures (as dried, 400°C) were prepared using the Flash auto-combustion method. X-ray diffraction pattern assured the cubic structure of Ag-NPs for both samples. The morphology using atomic force microscopy assured the formation of nanoparticles with small agglomeration. By increasing the annealing temperature, the crystallite and particle sizes increased. Moreover, Fourier transforms infrared analysis assured the bond formation of the nanoparticles. The magnetic measurement indicated the increase of the coercivity (Hc) of (Ag-Z-H) nanoparticles at 400°C by nine-fold compared with the as-dried sample. Contrarily, the as-dried (Ag-Z-H) nanoparticles showed 1.8-fold larger saturation magnetization (Ms) than at 400°C. The high-frequency application was studied from the magnetic measurement and showed that both samples could be applied in the ultra-high frequency microwave region in the P band. As a result of the antimicrobial study, (Ag-Z-H) nanoparticles at 400°C showed stronger antimicrobial activities than the as-dried sample. Thus, the strong recommendation of as-dried (Ag-Z-H) nanoparticles at 400°C could be used as an effective alternative antibacterial drug, especially (Ag-Z-H) nanoparticles at 400°C.