Antibacterial activity of Fe-doped ZnO nanoparticles synthesised via pulsed laser ablation in liquid against Staphylococcus Aureus

Pulse laser ablation in liquid (PLAL) technique has been performed in pure water as the solution to produce ZnO and Fe-doped ZnO nanoparticles, by varying Fe ablation time 5, 10 and 15 min. The characterisation was carried out using UV-vis spectrometer, photoluminescence 325 spectrometer, X-Ray diffraction, and high resolution-transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). The band gap energy was found to be 3.18 eV for pure ZnO and it was decreased down to 2.86 eV for ZnO for the highest Fe concentration. The shape and size, which were obtained from TEM, showed no significant change of ZnO nanoparticles with and without Fe addition. All samples were tested to inactivate Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) growth, which shows promising antibacterial properties as they are able to inactivate bacteria under normal ambient laboratory light, especially Fe-doped ZnO which is able to reduce more bacteria than pure ZnO.