# Synthesis and characterization of Ag-doped ZnO nanostructures and an assessment on their enhanced bacterial inhibition and photocatalytic degradation

## TL;DR

This paper describes the creation and testing of silver-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles for their antibacterial and photocatalytic properties.

## Contribution

The study introduces a new method to synthesize Ag-doped ZnO nanoparticles with enhanced antibacterial and photocatalytic performance.

## Key findings

- Ag-doping reduces the band gap and increases particle size of ZnO nanoparticles.
- The nanoparticles show improved antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
- The material exhibits photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue.

## Abstract

In this study, zinc oxide (ZnO) and silver-doped ZnO nanoparticles with varying silver concentrations (1, 3, 5, and 7 mol%) were synthesized using a simple and cost-effective sol–gel method. The prepared nanoparticles were characterized in terms of their optical, structural, and morphological properties using ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The study revealed that band gap decreases and particle size increases with increasing Ag content. The hexagonal wurtzite crystalline structure of ZnO and Ag-doped ZnO is confirmed by XRD. The photocatalytic activity of the synthesized nanoparticles toward methylene blue degradation, along with their antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and antifungal activity against Candida albicans, was investigated.

In this study, we have synthesized zinc oxide (ZnO) and silver-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles with different molar concentrations of silver (1, 3, 5 and 7 mol%) using a simple and cost-effective sol–gel method.