Heliyon 5 (2019) e01878

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Synthesis and biological function of Nickel and Copper nanoparticles

Jyoti Chaudhary a, Giriraj Tailor a, *, B.L. Yadav b, Oshon Michael c
a
Department of Polymer Science, M.L.S. University, Udaipur, Rajasthan, India
b
Department of Botany Mewar University, Gangrar, Chittorgarh, Rajasthan, India
c
Department of Chemistry, Mewar University, Chittorgarh, Rajasthan, India

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Nickel and Copper nanoparticles were synthesized by simple chemical method and studied for antimicrobial
Nanotechnology activities. The size of synthesized Nickel and Copper nanoparticles was found to be 24.00 nm and 13.13 nm
Materials chemistry respectively. The XRD analysis reveals the crystal system of Nickel and Copper nanoparticles. Copper nano-
Antimicrobial nanoparticles
particles were found orthorhombic whereas the nickel nanoparticles were monoclinic. The antimicrobial activities
Monoclinic
XRD
of Nickel and Copper nanoparticles dispersed in DMSO was investigated. Comparative sensitivity test of these
ZOI synthesized nanoparticles was carried out against three pathogenic micro-organisms (Gram negative bacteria),
viz. Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pneumonia Typhus, using agar diffusion cup plate method. Copper
and Nickel nanoparticles have shown appreciable sensitivity at 100 μg/ml against all test micro-organisms.
Comparatively, Copper nanoparticles were found to exhibit higher zone of inhibition (ZOI) than Nickel
nanoparticles.

1. Introduction plant extracts has provided a rapid, cost-effective biosynthetic protocol

for bulk synthesis of stable metallic nanoparticles. In the presentwork an
Metallic nanoparticles (NPs) are known for potential application in attempt has been made to develop green synthesis of metal nanoparticles
catalysis, electronics, optoelectronics, information stock, biosensors, and through a single-step, room-temperature from metal ions using envi-
surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), their synthesis and ronmentally benign reagents [13, 14].
properties have been studied in depth by several workers [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, The noble metals such as gold and silver have been used in synthesis
7, 8, 9, 10]. These particles have a wide functional diversity and can exist of nanoparticles. Now a day, copper (Cu) and nickel (Ni) are being used
as common structural elements or composites compared to bulk mate- instead of noble metals in synthesis of metallic nanoparticles as they are
rials. The physico-chemical properties of metallic nanoparticles are more economical than gold and silver. Recent investigations have been
mostly rated by the parameters like size, shape, and composition [11, 12, extended to the study of other metals, such as Cu and Ni, that could have
28]. Metallic nanoparticles of exclusive sizes and morphologies can be antibacterial activity. However, little attention has been paid to the study
readily synthesized using chemical and physical methods [29, 30]. Most of bimetallic Cu–Ni NPs, although some studies have already shown some
of the methods use toxic chemicals as reducing agents, organic solvents features of alloy NPs that distinguish them from the pure ones [15]. Cu
and non-biodegradable stabilizing agents which are potentially NPs [16, 17, 18, 19] and copper oxide NPs [20, 21] have reported to have
dangerous to the environment and biological systems. Moreover, most of antimicrobial activity. Similar findings have been reported for Ni NPs.
these methods are complicated and involve non-standard conditions Many studies have shown that Cu and Ni NPs have bactericidal activities
making them quite expensive. Thus the biosynthesis of nanoparticles is [26, 27]. Nevertheless, they have not been synthesized in aqueous so-
being proved as a cost effective environmental friendly alternative to lution without using stabilizers as polymers, ligands, salts, etc. That can
chemical and physical methods [31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36]. Consequently, hinder their properties. Finally, it is important to note that until now, the
micro-organisms and plant extracts have been used in synthesis of anti microbial properties of Cu–Ni bimetallic NPs have not been studied.
nanomaterials [24, 25]. The use of plant extracts for synthesis of nano- Therefore, the purposes of this study were the synthesis and character-
particles is profitable over microorganisms due to elaborate process of ization of Cu, Ni to investigate their antimicrobial activity.
maintaining cell cultures. The synthesis of metal nanoparticles using

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: giriraj.tailor66@[Link] (G. Tailor).

[Link]
Received 26 October 2018; Received in revised form 18 February 2019; Accepted 29 May 2019
2405-8440/Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license ([Link]
J. Chaudhary et al. Heliyon 5 (2019) e01878

2. Materials and methods 2.2. Synthesis of copper nanoparticles

During the present study AR grade chemicals such as Phenol, form-

aldehyde and acetic acid (Central Drug House Pvt. Limited) and hydro-
chloric acid (Fisher Scientific) were used. Metal ion solutions have been
prepared by dissolving suitable amount of metal salt in distilled water.
Copper and Nickel nanoparticles have been prepared by simple chemical
precipitation method and characterisation was done by SEM, thermal
gravimetric analysis and infrared spectroscopy. The synthesis of metallic
nanoparticles is a twostep process. The first step includes the synthesis of
polymer metal complex and second step the synthesis of metallic nano-
particles. The detailed method of synthesis of metallic nanoparticles has
already been given in our earlier publication [22]. However, the process
of synthesis of Nickel and Copper nanoparticles has been presented
below in the form of flow chart:

2.1. Synthesis of nickel nanoparticles

2.3. Antimicrobial activity

Comparative sensitivity test of Copper and Nickel nanoparticles was

carried out against three pathogenic micro-organisms, namely, E. coli, K.
pneumoniae and P. typhus, using agar diffusion cup plate method. Luria
agar media was prepared and used for this purpose. Both nanoparticles
were screened for antimicrobial activity at 100 μg/ml concentration.
Ciprofloxacin was used as control. 0.001g each of Copper and Nickel
nanoparticles were accurately weighed and dissolved in 10ml of DMSO.
100 μl of each stock solution was diluted with 900 μl of DMSO, to get a
concentration of 100 μg/ml. Luria agar medium was prepared appro-
priately and dispensed (half filled) into six sterile petri dishes, and
allowed for about 1 hour to gel uniformly. After gelling, the petri-dishes
were inoculated with 50μl of each test micro-organism and uniformly
spread with a spreader and labelled accordingly. Well diffusion method
was followed for sensitivity test against the pathogenic bacteria. Wells of
7 mm in diameter were made with the help of a sterile cork borer in each
petri dish. 100 μg/ml concentration of each of copper/nickel nano-
particle solution was dispensed (half filled) into the wells. The petri
plates were incubated at 370C for 24 hours. The zone of inhibition was
measured in millimetre (mm).

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Table 1 3. Results and discussion

Zone of Inhibition (mm) at 100 μg/ml of Copper and Nickel nanoparticles.
Nanoparticles E. coli K. pneumoniae P. typhus 3.1. X-RD characterization
Copper 5.0 9.0 6.0
Nickel 4.0 7.0 4.0 X – RD diffraction pattern provides information's on size and shape of
the unit cell from peak positions and information on electron density
within the unit cell. Orthorhombic copper nanoparticles have been
determined using XRD technique. Applying Debye – Scherrer equation to
the XRD pattern of the copper nanoparticles, it has been found that the
average size of nanoparticles is 13.13 nm, bravais lattice is primitive,
space group is pccn (56) and 2ϴ ¼ 42.045 [22].

Fig. 1. A-B Zone of inhibition of Copper and Nickel nanoparticles respectively against P. typhus.

Fig. 2. A-B Zone of inhibition of Copper and Nickel nanoparticles respectively against K. pneumoniae.

Fig. 3. A-B Zone of inhibition of Copper and nickel Nanoparticles respectively against E. coli.

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J. Chaudhary et al. Heliyon 5 (2019) e01878

XRD pattern showed that the size of nickel nanoparticles was 24.0 nm Additional information
and has maximum intensity diffraction peak at 2ϴ ¼ 12.50290 which
indicate the presence of crystalline structure and the crystal system is No additional information is available for this paper.
monoclinic [23].
Acknowledgements

3.2. Antimicrobial activity Authors (Tailor and Michal) are grateful to Heads department of
chemistry and department of biotechnology respectively for providing
Observations on the zone of inhibition of Nickel and Copper nano- necessary facilities for this work.
particles against the three pathogenic bacteria have been presented in
Table 1 and Figs. 1, 2, and 3. References
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