Enhanced catalytic and biological activities of Cu doped ZnO nanoparticles synthesized by microwave assisted method

Abstract

Copper doped zinc oxide nanoparticles (Cu-ZnO Nps) are known to be one of the multifunctional inorganic materials with effective antibacterial activity. In the present study, un-doped and copper doped zinc oxide with varying concentration i.e., Zn1-x CuxO (where x = 0, 0.01, 0.02 and 0.03%) have been synthesized via microwave assisted method and characterized by XRD, SEM, EDAX, TEM, UV-VIS-DRS spectroscopy. X-ray diffraction studies show that the Cu-ZnO Nps exhibit hexagonal wurtzite structure and the particle size are found to be within the range between 20 to 35 nm. Cu-ZnO Nps exhibit appreciable catalytic activity (89.9% yields) in the transformation of benzylalcohol to benzaldehyde. Significant antibacterial activity is shown by Cu-ZnO Nps against bacterial strains such as E. coli, S. aureus, Klebsiella and B. subtilis with zone of inhibition of 15 ± 0.08, 17 ± 0.21, 21 ± 0.01 and 23 ± 0.69 mm respectively in contrast to standard antibiotic streptomycin. The in vitro cytotoxicity of ZnO and Cu-ZnO Nps has been determined against human breast (MCF7) and human cervical (HeLa) cancer cell lines using MTT assay.