article · Nanoscale Research Letters
This review focuses on zinc oxide (ZnO) nanomaterials, highlighting their effectiveness as antibacterial agents due to their unique electronic configuration. It explores various strategies employed by researchers to enhance ZnO's antibacterial activity, including forming composites with other semiconductor materials, doping with ions, and applying capping agents like polymers and plant extracts. These methods are shown to reduce electron/hole recombination, increase surface area to volume ratio, and improve stability against dissolution and corrosion. The paper details the crucial antibacterial mechanisms, such as the release of antimicrobial ions, electrostatic interactions, and the generation of reactive oxygen species. It also emphasises the role of microscopic techniques, like scanning electron microscopy and fluorescence microscopy, in confirming antibacterial activity and developing satisfactory mechanisms.
Understanding and improving the antibacterial activity of zinc oxide is crucial for developing more effective materials to combat bacterial growth. This research contributes to optimising these materials, which could lead to advancements in various fields requiring antimicrobial solutions, from healthcare to environmental applications.
This review explores methods to enhance the antibacterial properties of zinc oxide, suggesting its potential for integration into antibacterial products or coatings. While it identifies strategies for improving material performance, the abstract does not specify particular applications, target users, or the readiness level for real-world implementation.
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Metal oxide nanomaterials are one of the preferences as antibacterial active materials. Due to its distinctive electronic configuration and suitable properties, ZnO is one of the novel antibacterial active materials. Nowadays, researchers are making a serious effort to improve the antibacterial activities of ZnO by forming a composite with the same/different bandgap semiconductor materials and doping of ions. Applying capping agents such as polymers and plant extract that control the morphology and size of the nanomaterials and optimizing different conditions also enhance the antibacterial activity. Forming a nanocomposite and doping reduces the electron/hole recombination, increases the surface area to volume ratio, and also improves the stability towards dissolution and corrosion. The release of antimicrobial ions, electrostatic interaction, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generations are the crucial antibacterial activity mechanism. This review also presents a detailed discussion of the antibacterial activity improvement of ZnO by forming a composite, doping, and optimizing different conditions. The morphological analysis using scanning electron microscopy, field emission-scanning electron microscopy, field-emission transmission electron microscopy, fluorescence microscopy, and confocal microscopy can confirm the antibacterial activity and also supports for developing a satisfactory mechanism. Graphical abstract showing the metal oxides antibacterial mechanism and the fluorescence and scanning electron microscopic images.
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DOI: 10.1186/s11671-020-03418-6
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