Antimicrobial activity of ZnO-TiO2 nanomaterials synthesized from three different precursors of ZnO: influence of ZnO/TiO2 weight ratio

In this study, ZnO-TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized from three different precursors for ZnO (zinc acetate di-hydrate, zinc nitrate hexahydrate and zinc sulfate heptahydrate) and titanium (IV) isopropoxide for TiO2. The prepared nanomaterials were calcined at 500 degrees C for 3 h and characterized by various physicochemical techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and transmission electron microscopy, combined with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (TEM-EDS). The obtained results showed that the crystalline structure, size and morphology of the ZnO-TiO2 nanoparticles are strongly influenced by the nature of the precursor of ZnO, as well as the ZnO/TiO2 weight ratio. The antibacterial and antifungal activities of the synthesized nanomaterials were evaluated, in the dark, against five multi-resistant of Gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus) and Gram negative (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Salmonella Paratyphi A) bacteria and a fungus (Candida albicans), which are pathogenic for humans. The obtained results showed that pure TiO2 anatase is inactive against the tested strains, while the addition of ZnO to TiO2 improves noticeably the effectiveness of TiO2 nanoparticles, depending on the nature of the precursor of ZnO and the ZnO/TiO2 weight ratio.