The influence of H₂O₂ on the antibacterial activity of ZnO

Abstract

The size of microorganisms usually ranges from hundreds of nanometers to tens of micrometers. Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO–NP) belongs to bio-safe material. And its antibacterial activity has attracted extensive attention because of various properties such as cost-effective benefits, UV-blocking properties and photooxidization. In this study, the effects of H 2 O 2 on the antibacterial activity of zinc oxide were explored by using H 2 O 2 as an auxiliary agent in the synthesis reaction of zinc oxide. The synthesis reaction of ZnO–NP was developed with H 2 O 2 or without H 2 O 2 treatment. And our results showed that zinc oxide with H 2 O 2 treatment demonstrated the decreased antibacterial activity against both S. a and E. coli . when compared to that of zinc oxide without H 2 O 2 treatment, which may be attributed to the observations: (1) the analysis of photocatalytic activity indicated that zinc oxide without H 2 O 2 treatment generated more H 2 O 2 , and release more Zn 2+ iron from ZnO than that of zinc oxide with H 2 O 2 treatment; (2) the comparison of ZnO–NP morphology indicated that H 2 O 2 treatment changed ZnO–NP from spherical-like microstructure to rod-like nanostructure when zinc oxide with H 2 O 2 treatment was synthesized. These results support additional evidence for us to better understand the antibacterial mechanism of zinc oxide with or without H 2 O 2 treatment, and offer a clue for us to develop zinc oxide with new properties for a wide range of applications by adding an auxiliary agent in the synthesis reaction of ZnO–NP.