Influence of Al and Al-Cu dual doping on structural, optical, wetting and anti-fungal properties of ZnO nanoparticles

ABSTRACT

Sol-gel (SG) and direct precipitation (DP) routes were employed to synthesize zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles. Al doping and Al-Cu dual doping in ZnO nanoparticles were performed. The structural, morphological, optical, wetting properties and antifungal activity of the undoped and doped nanoparticles were studied. The Al doping transformed the ZnO to zinc aluminate nanostructure, while Al-Cu dual doping produced zincite and tenorite phases of ZnO. FESEM revealed the morphology of undoped and doped nanoparticles. The doping of ZnO increased the band gap compared to the band gap of the ZnO nanoparticles. Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy endorsed the formation of zinc aluminate, zincite and tenorite phases. The hydrophilic SG-derived ZnO nanoparticles transformed to the hydrophobic due to Al doping which is attributed to the variation in the roughness of the doped nanostructures. The doped ZnO nanostructures revealed better resistance to the growth of the ‘Rhizopus Stolonifer’ fungus compared to the undoped ZnO nanoparticles.

KEYWORDS:

• Zinc oxide
• sol-gel
• dual-doping
• optical properties
• anti-fungal properties

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Professor Rajiv Prakash, IIT-BHU India for electron microscopy examination of the nanoparticles.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Prashant Kumar Bhargav

Prashant Kumar Bhargav is currently pursuing M.Tech from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India in the field of Material Engineering under the Department of Metallurgical and Material Science. He did his B.Tech. from University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun, India in the field of Material Science Engineering with specialisation in Nanotechnology under the department of Mechanical Engineering (School of Engineering). He recently published one research article in Nano-structures and Nano-objects journal based on C-doping of ZnO to tune the structural, morphological, optical, wetting properties and anti-fungal activity of ZnO nanoparticles.

K.S.R. Murthy

Dr. K.S.R. Murthy is currently working in the Department of Chemistry, University of Petroleum and Energy Studies (UPES), Dehradun, India. He was awarded M.Sc degree in 1991 from Andhra University, India, M.S degree in Environmental Science from University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK in 1995 and Ph.D. degree in 1998 from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, India.  He is ODA Fellowship awardee by British Government to pursue his studies at Glasgow, UK. His research areas include heavy metal removal from industrial effluents, characterization of nanomaterials, renewable energy sources. He has published one Text Book, 15 Research papers in National and International Peer-reviewed Journals and more than 30 technical presentations at National and International conferences.

Kamalpreet Kaur

Dr. Kamalpreet Kaur is working as an Assistant Professor-Senior Scale in the Department of Physics in University of Petroleum and Energy Studies, Dehradun. She completed her PhD degree from Thapar University, Patiala. During her split-site PhD under Commonwealth Scholarship (CWS) she was a postgraduate research student in School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, University of Manchester, UK. She also worked as a senior research fellow under the Council of Science and Industrial Research (CSIR), Govt. of India project. Her area of interest is the processing of metal matrix composites and their characterization.

M.S. Goyat

M.S. Goyat presently Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at University of Petroleum & Energy Studies (UPES). He did his PhD in Metallurgical & Materials Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee, India. He did his M.Tech. in Nano Science & Technology and M.Sc. in Physics from Guru Jambheshwar University of Science & Technology, Hisar, India. He has published more than 35 research papers in various international journals of repute. His current research interests include polymer nanocomposites for structural applications, superhydrophobic coatings for self-cleaning, corrosion resistance and solar energy harvesting and synthesis of novel nanostructures for various applications.

Jitendra K. Pandey

Dr. Jitendra K. Pandey is currently Professor & Associate Dean Research, UPES Dehradun. He is a Member of National Academy of Sciences India (NASI), India.He did his PhD from National Chemical Laboratory, the University of Pune in 2006. He also worked asResearch Assistant Professor, School of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering, Seoul National University, South Korea. He worked as a post-doctoral fellow at different reputed institutes such as Advanced Material Institute of Technology and Science, The University of Tokushima, Japan, Max Planck Research Fellow, Max Planck Institute of Colloid and Interfaces Department of Biomaterials Wissemshaftpark, Golm, Germany. His research area is polymer nanocomposites. He has published 80 research articles in reputed international journals, 5 books and 55 conference papers. He has 14 international/national patents.

Santosh Dubey

Dr. Santosh Dubey is currently Professor & Head of Physics Department, UPES Dehradun. He did his PhD in Computational Science from Florida State University, USA and Post Doc from Purdue University, USA. He also worked as a Scientist at Institute for Plasma Research, Department of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India. His current research interests are in computational modelling for energy-efficient materials.

Sudesh Sharma

Dr. Sudesh Sharma has qualified M.Sc. in Physics from C.C.S. University Campus in 2005. He has obtained PhD degree from I.I.T. DELHI-India in 2011 in Experimental Condensed Matter Physics. After completion of the doctorate, he was associated with UPES, Dehradun-India as an Assistant Professor from 2011 to 2019. Currently, he is working in R.P. (P.G) Degree College, Farrukhabad, India as an Assistant Professor in the Physics Department. His current research interest is ferromagnetism in transition metal doped oxides/sulphides nanocrystalline structure, multiferroic nanostructures for spintronic application.

Charu Pant

Charu Pant a Post Graduate in Physics from M.P Bhoj (Open) University Bhopal and graduation from Kumoun university Nanital Uttarakhand has been working in UPES Laboratories for the last 15 years (2004) and as Sr. Lab Superintendent in Central Instrumentation Centre (CIC) of UPES for the Last 4 Years (2015) has been actively working with Research groups of students and faculties working in the field of synthesis of nanomaterials and their property enhancement. He has good exposure of handling sophisticated instruments facilities like XRD, FTIR, AFM, UV, PL,PSA, AFM,DSA, etc.