Synergistic effect of ZnO nanoparticles with Cu2+ doping on antibacterial and photocatalytic activity

• Published in: Inorganic chemistry communications 2023-11, Vol.157, p.111425, Article 111425
• Main Authors: Singh, Amitender, Wan, Fayu, Yadav, Kavita, Salvi, Anand, Thakur, Preeti, Thakur, Atul
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antibacterial; Cu-doped ZnO; E. coli; Nanoparticles; Photocatalytic
• ISSN: 1387-7003; 1879-0259
• DOI: 10.1016/j.inoche.2023.111425

[Display omitted] •ZnO and Cu-doped ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) were successfully synthesized using chemical precipitation method.•Variation in structural, optical, physiochemical and biological properties due to varying Cu- doping in ZnO were analyzed.•The antibacterial activity was analyzed to establish ZOI values on gram negative, facultative anaerobic, coliform bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli).•Significant enhancement of photocatalytic and antibacterial activity was observed due to Cu-doping in ZnO NPs. The nanoparticles (NPs) of ZnO and Cu-doped ZnO samples were prepared using a chemical precipitation method specifically aimed at enhancing photocatalytic and antibacterial activity. The structural, morphological, phase constitutional, functional, elemental, and optical properties have been studied using Powder X-ray Diffraction (PXRD), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Ultra Violet diffused reflectance spectroscopy (UV-DRS), Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The crystallite size was calculated by using Debye Scherrer formula and the obtained average crystallite size of pure ZnO, ZnO-Cu2.5%, ZnO-Cu5%, and ZnO-Cu10% sample is 24.31 ± 0.12 nm, 25.72 ± 0.47 nm, 26.83 ± 0.39 nm, and 26.94 ± 0.29 nm, respectively. High-resolution Transmission Electron Microscope (HR-TEM) was used to calculate the d-spacing. The values of d-spacing for ZnO, ZnO-Cu2.5%, ZnO-Cu5%, and ZnO-Cu10% samples were measured as 0.248 nm, 0.266 nm, and 0.273 nm, respectively and corresponds to (101), (002) and (100) planes of ZnO, respectively which are well associated with the PXRD data (JCPDS card no. 36–1451). It was found that the doping concentration affects the crystallinity of the ZnO nanoparticles. The average grain size of ZnO, ZnO-Cu2.5%, ZnO-Cu5%, and ZnO-Cu10% is 35.75 ± 1.91 nm, 38.55 ± 2.31 nm, 45.39 ± 1.78 nm, and 50.65 ± 2.23 nm, respectively as determined from TEM images by using the ImageJ software. Further, photo-catalytic dye degradation was studied to understand the photocatalytic behavior of synthesized nanoparticles. The UV–Vis adsorption study has revealed that optimum doping of Cu is mandatory to get the highest degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye. It was observed that 5% Cu-doped ZnO NPs have the optimum photocatalytic activity. Furthermore, the antibacterial activity of various formulations on the gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, coliform bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli) was studied to establ