Co-assembled ZnO (shell)–CuO (core) nano-oxide materials for microbial protection

Development of efficient antimicrobial metal-oxide nanoparticles (MONPs) is important to advance in the biomedical and in the industrial fields. Herein, ZnO-CuO nanoparticles with improved antibacterial were developed by simple double precipitation technique and their properties were studied. The bactericide ability of ZnO-CuO nanoparticles was investigated against Escherichia coli. The ZnO-CuO_0.5 exhibited high activity against E.coli at high and low concentration levels. The MONPs were analyzed via FTIR, UV-visible/DRS, PL, SEM/EDS, TEM, XRD and TGA analysis. These results show the formation of hexagonal wurtzite-monoclinic phase morphology and the thermal characteristics of the ZnO-CuO nanoparticles emphasize the potential of these dual nanooxide materials. The intensity of the emission band of ZnO was decreased following the increase in the CuO concentrations and the order is as follows: CuO < ZnO-CuO_0.5 < ZnO-CuO_0.1 < ZnO. The co-assembled MONPs developed may function as potential candidates for advanced biomedical and industrial applications.