Enhanced antibacterial property of zinc oxide nanoparticles by incorporation of graphene oxide

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) have shown a great potential for antibacterial and antifungal properties; however, an improvement of certain candidates is always a quest for many applications. For this purpose, we have chemically combined ZnO NPs with graphene oxide (GO) via hydrothermal process to enhance antibacterial property of zinc oxide. Before evaluating antibacterial effect, ZnO NPs and ZnO-GO nanocomposite were characterized in terms of phase composition, particles size and elemental composition by X-Ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscope (TEM), Raman, FTIR and scanning electron microscope equipped with energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer (SEM-EDS), respectively. The antibacterial capacity of these materials was then assessed on E. coli bacterial through cell viability to quantify the E. coli inactivation efficiency. In addition, the E. coli morphological development in different conditions was examined. Results of our work showed that the combination of ZnO and GO resulted in an increase in bacterial inhibition compared with the ZnO alone. And, antibacterial effect of ZnO-GO nanocomposite is not dose dependent in case of long time treatment. [GRAPHICS] .