Rauvolfia serpentina-Mediated Green Synthesis of CuO Nanoparticles and Its Multidisciplinary Studies

Copper oxide nanoparticles (CuO Nps) were successfully synthesized by solution combustion method using aqueous leaf extract of Rauvolfia serpentina as a fuel. The structure and morphology of the CuO nanoparticles (Nps) were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), UV-visible spectroscopy (UV-visible), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), etc. The PXRD patterns reveal the formation of monoclinic phase with crystallite structure. SEM images indicate that the particles have sponge-like structure being highly porous and agglomerated with large surface area. The average crystallite sizes were found to be in the range of 10-20 nm by Scherrer's method. The CuO Nps size was further confirmed by TEM. Further, CuO Nps exhibit good photocatalytic activity for the photodegradation of trypan blue dye, indicating that it acts as a promising semiconducting material. The antibacterial properties of CuO nanoparticles were investigated against pathogenic bacterial strains, namely Gram ye Escherichia coli (NCIM-5051) and Pseudomonas desmolyticum (NCIM-2028) and Gram +ve bacteria Staphylococcus aureus (NCIM-5022) using the agar well diffusion method.