Title: Synthesis, morphology and optical characterisation of transition metal oxide (Mn₃O₄) nanostructures and its antibacterial activities

Authors: Syed Asif Ali Naqvi; Ghulam Mustafa; Junaid Kareem Khan; Syed Masood Raza; Saima Faraz; Zaheer Uddin

Addresses: Department of Physics, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan ' Department of Physics, NED University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi, Pakistan ' Department of Physics, NED University of Engineering & Technology, Karachi, Pakistan ' Department of Physics, Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan ' Department of Physics, Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Technology, Karachi, Pakistan ' Department of Physics, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan

Abstract: We studied the chemical growth of Mn₃O₄ nanostructures by employing the co-precipitation method. The size of the nanoparticles of the Mn₃O₄ sample through XRD was found to be 17-34 nm. By optical characterisation of Mn₃O₄, in addition three sub-band gaps were found. It shows fractionalised band gaps followed by Schottky barriers, which would have different bandgap energies. It is related to fractional quantum behaviour and quantum jumps. EDX shows the exact percentages of elements that verify the Mn₃O₄ nanoparticles percentile. SEM results show Penrose like structures with cylindrical entanglement, web, and granules morphology pores in each of the four different sizes of the granules. Mn₃O₄ nanoparticles also show antibacterial activities. The suppression of growth of Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis, Escherichia coli, and Citrobacter sp was observed, showing antimicrobials potential of manganese oxide nanoparticles. The optimal antibacterial concentration for Mn₃O₄ manganese oxide nanoparticles was found to be 400 ug/discs.

Keywords: quantum jumps; co-precipitation; X-ray diffraction; SEM; EDX; antimicrobials potential.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNT.2022.129761

International Journal of Nanotechnology, 2022 Vol.19 No.12, pp.1093 - 1104

Received: 19 Nov 2020
Accepted: 09 Nov 2021
Published online: 25 Mar 2023 *

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