With the emergence of nanotechnology and modern materials science, it has been shown that zinc oxide acts an antimicrobial on the nanoscale. The inorganic material is stable under high temperatures and is generally recognized as safe. Though ZnO is already being used in practical applications as an antimicrobial, the exact mechanism remains unknown. A proposed mechanism suggests that ZnO produces reactive oxygen species intermediates. In order to investigate the antimicrobial mechanism of ZnO, testing was done using the differing chemical properties of two distinct ZnO morphologies. Both plate and rod-column morphologies of ZnO were selectively synthesized using structural directing agents. The plate morphology has a larger percentage of polar surface area, which facilitate the formation of ROS. After product morphologies were confirmed under SEM imaging, antimicrobial testing was performed using both Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria. Key findings indicate that the antimicrobial activity of ZnO is directly proportional to the concentration of ZnO used as well as the percentage of polar surface area, as the plate morphology exhibited higher activity than the rod-column morphology. This supports the previously proposed ROS mechanism.

Investigation of the antimicrobial mechanism of zinc oxide particles through morphological testing

255th National Meeting (2018)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.