Study on the activity of ZnO-SnO2 nanocomposite against bacteria and fungi

ZnO-SnO2 nanocomposite was prepared by the sol-gel method. The as-prepared nanocomposite was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron micrograph (SEM-EDX), FTIR and UV-Visible spectrometer analysis techniques. The average particle size of nanocomposite was calculated from the XRD study. The average particle size of the prepared nanocomposite was 22 nm. According to the UV-Visible spectrum, the band gap value of 5.06 eV was obtained for the ZnO-SnO2nanocomposite. From the analysis techniques it was found that the metal oxides of ZnO-SnO2 mainly consist of ZnO and SnO2 metal oxides. The antibacterial and antifungal activities of the ZnO-SnO2nanocomposite were studied against Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC25923), Listeria monocytogenes (ATCC 11994)(Gram-positive), Salmonella typhi (ATCC14028), Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922)Gram-negative), Candida albicans (ATCC10231), and Aspergillus niger (ATCC 16404) (fungi)by two methods through the turbidity method or reading optical density and inhibition zone, which were carried out in the absence of irradiation. We observed an effective antibacterial and antifungal activity of the ZnO-SnO2 nanocomposite against bacteria and fungi