Synthesis of cerium oxide nanoparticles using Gloriosa superba L. leaf extract and their structural, optical and antibacterial properties

Abstract

CeO2 nanoparticles (NPs) were green synthesized using Gloriosa superba L. leaf extract. The synthesized nanoparticles retained the cubic structure, which was confirmed by X-ray diffraction studies. The oxidation states of the elements (C (1s), O (1s) and Ce (3d)) were confirmed by XPS studies. TEM images showed that the NPs possessed spherical shape and particle size of 5nm. The Ce-O stretching bands were observed at 451cm(-1) and 457cm(-1) from the FT-IR and Raman spectra respectively. The band gap of the CeO2 NPs was estimated as 3.78eV from the UV-visible spectrum. From the photoluminescence measurements, the broad emission composed of eight different bands were found. The antibacterial studies performed against a set of bacterial strains showed that Gram positive (G+) bacteria were relatively more susceptible to the NPs than Gram negative (G-) bacteria. The toxicological behavior of CeO2 NPs was found due to the synthesized NPs with uneven ridges and oxygen defects in CeO2 NPs.

Keywords: Antibacterial activity; Cerium oxide nanoparticles; Gloriosa superba; Green synthesis; Raman spectroscopy; X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy.