Influence of Mg and Cu dual-doping on phytogenic synthesized ZnO for light induced antibacterial and radical scavenging activities

In this study, dual-doping of zinc oxide (ZnO) with magnesium (Mg) and copper (Cu) were successfully performed using aqueous leaf extract of Ziziphus mauritiana Lam. The surface morphological, structural and optical properties of ZnO and Mg/Cu-dual doped ZnO were examined using various techniques. The particle size and optical band gap energy of the synthesized ZnO were reduced when Mg/Cu dopants were introduced. The presence of phytochemicals which played an important role in stabilizing and capping of the phytogenic synthesized ZnO were also confirmed. Furthermore, the effect of light on antibacterial and radical scavenging activities of ZnO and Mg/Cu-dual doped ZnO were examined. It was observed that the synthesized materials exhibited good antibacterial activities towards Staphylococcus aureus compared to Escherichia coli in the absence and presence of light. The phytogenic synthesized ZnO and Mg/Cu-dual doped ZnO were also found to exhibit good 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free radicals scavenging activity under visible light irradiation. [Display omitted] •Mg/Cu-dual doped ZnO synthesized using aqueous leaf extract of Ziziphus mauritiana Lam.•Effect of Mg/Cu-dual doping on optical, structural and morphological properties of the synthesized ZnO.•DPPH• scavenging activities of ZnO and Mg/Cu-doped ZnO.•Antibacterial potentials of ZnO and Mg/Cu-doped ZnO against S. aureus and E. coli.