CdO-implanted hexagonal ZnO nanoplatelets: red-shifted emission and enhanced charge carrier-resistance and bacteria-inactivation

Nanocrystalline ZnO is an innocuous, stable, water-insoluble antibacterial agent and enhancement of its bactericidal activity without hampering the non-toxicity and stability is of scientific as well as technological interest. Hexagonal ZnO nanoplatelets implanted with CdO were obtained by a two-step synthesis of precipitation accompanied by hydrothermal process. The synthesized nanoplates were characterized by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, selected area electron diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Insertion of CdO nanocore in ZnO lattice increases largely the charge transfer resistance but does not influence the band gap energy. The implantation suppresses the violet emission but enhances the blue-green emission, which is due to variation in the relative abundance of different defects. The bactericidal activity of the synthesized novel CdO-implanted ZnO nanocomposite is larger than those of precursor CdO and pristine ZnO.