Synthesis, characterization of (Fe, Sn) doped and co-doped Copper oxide NPs and evaluation of their antibacterial activities

Abstract

Abstract Undoped, Fe, Sn doped and Fe/Sn co-doped copper oxides are prepared by precipitation synthesis. The all synthesized powders show a monoclinic main CuO phase. The insertion of Fe or/and Sn within the CuO matrix moderately affects the preferential growth direction. The infrared analysis shows the presence of characteristic vibration bands of compositional functional groups. The reflectance of the undoped sample is higher than that of the other samples. Compared to undoped CuO, the doped and co-doped NPs exhibit red-shifted gap energy. Additionally, the antibacterial efficiencies of the all-synthesized samples are tested against Staphyloccus species. Doped and undoped CuO nanopowders show important antibacterial activity on tested bacteria with MICs values ranged between 0.039 to 1.25 mg/ml. Minimum Inhibitory Concentration value of 0.039 mg/ml was obtained with Fe-doped CuO NPs (CuO:Fe NPs) against S.aureus ATCC33591, whereas the highest MIC value of 1.25 mg/ml was obtained with CuO:Sn nanopowder against the strain S. epidermidis, which was the most resistant strain. Moreover, all CuO NPs, except CuO:Fe-Sn showed important anti-adhesive and antibacterial activities against S. epidermidis when used as pellets. This was confirmed either by cell counts using the determination of CFU/ml of bacterial suspension inside the hole, or by using fluorescence microscopy.