Abstract
In this paper, Li-doped ZnO nanowires were grown on flexible carbon fiber substrates by hydrothermal route to create hybrid antibacterial structures. We have reported the synthesis, characterization and antibacterial activity of these hybrid structures which are made up of ZnO nanowires incorporated with various amounts of Li (0.3%, 0.5%, 1%, 3%, and 5%). Structural, morphological, optical, and elemental properties of the samples were scrutinized by using X-ray diffractometry (XRD), photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. The antibacterial effect of the hybrid structures against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was tested by colony counting method. From the results, the antibacterial effect of Li-doped ZnO/CF against both E. coli and S. aureus was observed to considerably high in all samples. It was also seen that the Li addition significantly improves the antibacterial effect of ZnO nanowires. Doping ZnO with 3% Li resulted in best antibacterial efficiency on both E. coli (99.3% inhibition) and S. aureus (98.7% inhibition) among all samples.
NSTL
Elsevier