Inactivation of Bacteria using Chemically Fabricated Zerovalent Iron Nanoparticles

Abstract

In the present work the zerovalent iron nanoparticles have been synthesized by chemical reduction method using aqueous solution of ferrous sulfate heptahydrate (FeSO4.7H2O) with sodium borohydride (NaBH4) as a reducer. The average size of the particles was determined from X-ray diffraction line broadening and the diffractogram was compared with the standard JCPDS data to identify the crystallographic phase as well as the structure of the particles. The size of the particles ranged from 18-30 nm. The morphology of the nanoparticles was determined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The antibacterial activity of the zero-valent iron nanoparticles was done by agar well diffusion method. Bacterial sensitivity to nanoparticles was found to vary depending on the microbial species. Vibrio parahaemolyticus showed the highest antibacterial efficacy to iron nanoparticles than the other bacterial pathogens used in the experiment. Two-way ANOVA test revealed that the functions of iron nanoparticles on bacterial pathogens are statistically significant.