Bactericidal properties of ZnO-SnO2 nanocomposites prepared by polymer-salt method

•Bactericidal ZnO-SnO2 nanocomposites were prepared by polymer-salt method.•Nanocomposites crystal structure strongly affect on their spectral and bactericidal properties.•SnO2 additions enhance antibacterial activity against bacteria. This work describes the study of the synthesis and characterization of bactericidal ZnO-SnO2 nanocomposites prepared by polymer-salt method. The structure and morphology of prepared materials were studied by XRD and SEM analysis. Prepared ZnO-SnO2 nanocomposites demonstrate the ability to generate singlet oxygen under external irradiation and high antibacterial activity against both gram-positive (Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 209P) and gram-negative (Escherichia coli ATCC 25922) bacteria. Antibacterial effect increases significantly with the growth of SnO2 addition content up to 9–12 mol% content that is related to the decrease of ZnO nanocrystals sizes and the corresponding increase of materials specific surface areas.