Antimicrobial Investigation of CuO and ZnO Nanoparticles Prepared by a Rapid Combustion Method

In recent years, fabrication of metal oxide nanoparticles is intensively gaining the interest of various chemists as well as biochemist due to their applications in different fields. Among all the transition metal oxides, CuO and ZnO are the important metal oxide nanoparticles exhibiting tremendous properties and a wide range of applications. Both CuO and ZnO nanoparticles were prepared by combustion method effectively with very less time. The combustion of copper(II) nitrate and urea at stoichiometric ratio results in CuO nanoparticles. Similarly, combustion of zinc(II) nitrate and urea at stoichiometric ratio results in ZnO nanoparticles. Both CuO and ZnO nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction to study the different phases present in them. The microstructure and composition of the prepared metal oxide nanoparticles were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy attached to SEM, respectively. The optical studies were carried out using UV-Vis spectrophotometer. Particle size analyser was used to determine the mean average particle size of the prepared metal oxide nanoparticles. The CuO and ZnO NPs were applied to gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria using minimum inhibition concentration (MIC) assay which demonstrated an essential antibacterial effect.