Antimicrobial activity of designed undoped and doped MicNo-ZnO particles

Abstract

The research objective of the present study was to evaluate antimicrobial activity of ZnO powder systems in different size, shape and array platelet forms with undoped and doped Ag at different concentrations. In particular, a novel particle morphology, called MicNo-ZnO, is micron size hexagonal platelet particles composed of primary nano ZnO particles, and its' doped forms with Ag was tested as an antimicrobial agent as first time in the literature. Eleven test microorganisms were used to investigate antimicrobial performance of particles including Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, Candida glabrata, Candida zeylanoides, Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus fumigatus, Fusarium solani and Penicillium citrinum. The results show that investigated nanoparticles have broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. In addition, effectiveness of nanoparticles increases by doping of Ag and especially MicNo particles doped with 0.05 mol % of Ag concentration demonstrated the highest antimicrobial activity among tested particles. These results are considered, MicNo-ZnO display a great potential for different industrial applications.