Investigation of Doping Effect on Structural, Optical, Antibacterial, and Toxicity Properties of Iron Doped Copper Oxide Nanostructures Prepared by Co-Precipitation Route

In this work, pure copper oxide and Fe-doped copper oxide nanostructures [Cu1-x FexO where 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.08 in steps of 0.02] were synthesized using the co-precipitation method. Iron nitrate nano-hydrate and copper nitrate trihydrate were used as precursors and NaOH was used as precipitating agent. The samples were investigated by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), and UV-Visible spectroscopy for their structural, morphological, and optical properties, respectively. The effect of iron concentration on antibacterial activity and hemolysis was also investigated for Escherichia coli and Bacillus Subtilis. The XRD pattern showed a single-phase monoclinic structure of CuO nanoparticles. The average crystallite size of pure copper oxide was found 39 nm whereas the average crystallite size of Fe-doped CuO was found in the range 39-44 nm. It was observed that average crystallite size was increased with an increasing iron concentration in CuO. Scanning electron microscopy analysis showed spherical-like morphology and EDS confirmed the presence of iron and copper with proper composition. UV-vis spectroscopy results showed that the band gap was decreased with increasing iron concentration. Samples prepared with higher concentrations of iron exhibited high E. coli and B. subtilis antibacterial activity. Low hemolytic is safer to be used in various applications such as drug delivery.