Synthesis of silver incorporated lithium doped zinc oxide nanocomposites for in-vitro biorational evaluation of Candiasis and Cryptococcosis

Abstract Zinc oxide nanocomposites with Li and Ag doping were synthesized and were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), diffused reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and time of flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (ToF-SIMS). A peak shift was observed in XRD diffraction patterns, which was due to the lattice strain which was created by the doping of Li and Ag. Four phonon modes in Raman spectra corresponds to wurtzite structure with C6v space group. In ToF-SIMS, the presence of Li has been confirmed with its isotopes at m/z 6.01 and 7.01 respectively. For Candiasis albicans, the final microbial count after 10h were 2.1 x 104, 1.8 x 103, 1.1 x 103, 1.6 x 102, 1.0 x 102 and 3.0 x 101 in case of ZnO, lithium doped ZnO and Ag (0.5 mM, 1 mM, 3 mM, 5 mM) incorporation in Li doped ZnO matrices respectively, while the microbial count were 2.4 x 105, 1.6 x 104, 4.8 x 102, 3.2 x 102, 1.1 x 102 and 1.5 x 102 in the case of the ZnO, lithium doped ZnO, Ag (0.5 mM, 1 mM, 3 mM, 5 mM) incorporation in Li doped ZnO matrices, respectively.