Structural, Optical, and Antibacterial Efficacy of Pure and Zinc-Doped Copper Oxide Against Pathogenic Bacteria

Copper oxide and Zinc (Zn)-doped Copper oxide nanostructures (CuO-NSs) are successfully synthesized by using a hydrothermal technique. The as-obtained pure and Zn-doped CuO-NSs were tested to study the effect of doping in CuO on structural, optical, and antibacterial properties. The band gap of the nanostructures is calculated by using the Tauc plot. Our results have shown that the band gap of CuO reduces with the addition of Zinc. Optimization of processing conditions and concentration of precursors leads to the formation of pine needles and sea urchin-like nanostructures. The antibacterial properties of obtained Zn-doped CuO-NSs are observed against Gram-negative (Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiella pneumonia, Escherichia coli) and Gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria via the agar well diffusion method. Zn doped s are found to have more effective bacterial resistance than pure CuO. The improved antibacterial activity is attributed to the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation.

Automated summary

This study successfully synthesized copper oxide and zinc-doped copper oxide nanostructures using a hydrothermal technique, finding that the addition of zinc lowers the band gap of copper oxide and leads to the formation of nanostructures with different morphologies. The antibacterial properties of zinc-doped copper oxide were found to be more effective, attributed to the generation of reactive oxygen species.