Dopant induced changes in physical properties of ZnO:Mg nanosuspensions: Study of antibacterial activity

The sol-gel method is successfully used for the synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles doped with dierent concentrations of Mg. The structure, morphology, chemical composition, optical and antibacterial activity of the nanoparticles were studied as a function of the Mg doping concentration. The synthesized ZnO samples show a hexagonal Wurtzite structure, and the phase segregation takes place for the 15% amount of doping. TEM images verify the formation of nanoparticles in the range of 30-55 nm. FTIR and EDS results also conrm the successful incorporation of Mg in the ZnO structure. Optical investigation indicates an increase in band gap energy with an increase in doping content. The antibacterial activities of the nanosuspensions were tested against Escherichia Coli (gram negative) and Streptococcus Mutans (gram-positive) cultures. ZnO:Mg nanosuspension shows high antibacterial activity, which slightly decreases with the amount of Mg