Issue 100, 2016, Issue in Progress
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RSC Advances

Effect of fuel content on luminescence and antibacterial properties of zinc oxide nanocrystalline powders synthesized by the combustion method†

Trilok K. Pathak,*a   Ashwini Kumar,a   C. W. Swart,bc   H. C. Swarta  and  R. E. Kroon ORCID logo *a  

* Corresponding authors

a Department of Physics, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa
E-mail: tpathak01@gmail.com, PathakTK@ufs.ac.za, KroonRE@ufs.ac.za

b Department of Microbial, Biochemical and Food Biotechnology, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa

c Laboratory for Microscopy, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, South Africa

Abstract

Nanoscale ZnO powders were synthesized via the combustion method using zinc nitrate hexahydrate as the source (oxidant) material and urea, and glycine or citric acid monohydrate as fuels. The effect of the relative fuel to oxidant ratio on the characteristics of ZnO particles produced with urea as the fuel was also investigated. X-ray diffraction analysis revealed that the ZnO nanocrystalline particles were successfully synthesized by combustion and the crystallite size was different depending on the fuel. The surface morphology showed a dramatic change as the fuel changed in the synthesis process. The chemical states of the synthesized ZnO powders were investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, which allowed an assessment of the Zn and O related defect concentrations. The optical bandgap varied from 3.12 to 3.14 eV for different fuels and it decreased to 3.10 eV in the fuel rich case for urea. The maximum defect level photoluminescence emission was observed for the ZnO powder synthesized using urea as the fuel, for the stoichiometric fuel mix. All products exhibited similar antibacterial effects; however they had a greater effect on Staphylococcus aureus compared to Escherichia coli.

Graphical abstract: Effect of fuel content on luminescence and antibacterial properties of zinc oxide nanocrystalline powders synthesized by the combustion method

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C6RA22341A
Article type
Paper
Submitted
06 Sep 2016
Accepted
03 Oct 2016
First published
03 Oct 2016

RSC Adv., 2016,6, 97770-97782

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Effect of fuel content on luminescence and antibacterial properties of zinc oxide nanocrystalline powders synthesized by the combustion method

T. K. Pathak, A. Kumar, C. W. Swart, H. C. Swart and R. E. Kroon, RSC Adv., 2016, 6, 97770 DOI: 10.1039/C6RA22341A

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