CuO nanoparticles and their antimicrobial activity against nosocomial strains

Abstract

Using a prototype reactor, CuO nanoparticles (NPs) were synthetized through the precipitation method, starting from CuSO2·5H2O and Cu(CH3COO)2·H2O. The obtained NPs were characterized by XDR, FT-IR, SEM, and TEM. The antimicrobial activity of the NPs was determined by the plate diffusion method, placing 20 mg of NPs onto four nosocomial strains obtained from north Lima national hospital Intensive-Care Unit (Staphylococcus epidermidis, Aerococcus viridans, Ochrobactrum anthropic, and Micrococcus lylae). NPs characterization revealed that those synthetized from acetate (CuO–Acet) shown pure CuO phase, while those synthetized from sulphate CuO–Sulf shown two phases where CuO was the predominant one, having more than 84%. The crystal domains for CuO–Acet and CuO–Sulf were 15 and 19 nm, respectively. The inhibition halos for the studied strains were larger for CuO–Sulf NPs than CuO–Acet NPs, only Ochrobactrum anthropi displayed similar inhibition halos for both types of NPs.

Keywords

• CuO
• cepas nosocomiales
• nanopartículas