Synthesis and antimicrobial properties of ZnO/PVA, CuO/PVA and TiO2/PVA nanocomposite

In this paper, zinc oxide (ZnO), copper oxide (CuO) and titanium oxide (TiO2) nanoparticles were prepared using sol-gel method. The structural properties of these nanoparticles were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). SEM images revealed that the average size of zinc oxide, copper oxide and titanium oxide nanoparticles to be about 37 nm, 86 nm and 50 nm, respectively. Then, nano-composites of metal oxide were produced by Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA). The antibacterial activity of zinc oxide, copper oxide and titanium oxide nano-composites against human pathogenic bacteria, mainly Escherichia coli HB101 (gram-negative) have been studied using drop test during the time period of 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, 2 hours, 12 hours and 24 hours generated reviews.According to the results obtained with the nano-composite zinc oxide nanoparticles exhibit highest antibacterial properties.