Antibacterial and heavy ion removal properties of La- and Ti-doped ZnO nanoparticles

In this study, antibacterial activity and the absorption of Cd(II) heavy metal ions by sol-gel synthesized pure, La-, and Ti-doped ZnO nanoparticles was studied. ZnO nanoparticles were characterized by XRD, SEM and EDS analysis. Also, synthesized nanoparticles were tested for their antibacterial activity against the clinical pathogens Klebsiella using disc well diffusion method. The absorption capacity of ZnO nanoparticles for eliminating Cd(II) from aqueous mediums was investigated at different concentration of dopants. A high absorption efficiency (93 mg g−1) of Cd(II) from its aqueous solutions at initial concentration of 300 mg L−1 by 8 at% of Ti-doped ZnO nanoparticles was achieved. The absorption capacity of ZnO increased from 32 mg g−1 for undoped ZnO to 62 mg g−1 for La-doped ZnO, and 94 mg g−1 for Ti-doped ZnO. The antibacterial examinations were performed under dark environment against extended spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs) producing strains of Klebsiella pneumoniae demonstrated that the Ti-doped ZnO has a higher antibacterial activity than the pure and La-doped ZnO nanoparticles.