Abstract
The present study investigates the synthesis and characterization of iron oxide nanoparticles (Fe
-NPs) for their antibacterial potential against
and
by modified disc diffusion and broth agar dilution methods. DLS and XRD results revealed the average size of synthesized Fe
-NPs as 24 nm while XPS measurement exhibited the spin-orbit peak of Fe 2p
binding energy at 511 eV. Fe
-NPs inhibited the growth of
and
in both liquid and soild agar media, and displayed 26 mm and 22 mm zone of inhibitions, respectively. MIC of Fe
-NPs was found to be 5 μg/mL against these strains. However, MBC for these strains was observed at 40 μg/mL concentration of Fe
-NPs for exhibiting 40–50% loss in viable bacterial cells and 80 μg/mL concentration of Fe
-NPs acted as bactericidal for causing 90–99% loss in viability. Hence, these nanoparticles can be explored for their additional antimicrobial and biomedical applications.