Usage of Iron-Doped Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles for the Prevention of Hospital-Acquired Infections

Hospital-acquired infections represent a significant challenge in healthcare settings, often leading to increased morbidity, mortality, and healthcare costs. The growing issues of antimicrobial-resistant bacteria highlight the urgent need for novel approaches to control infections. Recent advancements in nanotechnology have introduced metal oxide nanoparticles as promising antimicrobial agents. In this study, the hydrothermal synthesis of iron-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles for the development of an antimicrobial surface is motivated by their potential application in mitigating hospital-acquired infections. The scientific community has been interested in these nanoparticles due to their potential use in biomedical applications. A low molarity iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) solutions were used for the sample preparation. The concentration of dopant (Fe) was varied at weight percentages of 1-5wt%. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis demonstrated the formation of a wurtzite hexagonal structure of ZnO across all dopant concentrations. Increasing the dopant concentration caused a decrease in crystallinity, which in turn reduced the crystallite size of the nanoparticles. Vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) analysis demonstrated that all of the synthesized samples exhibited soft ferromagnetic behavior. Dielectric studies showed normal dispersion behavior in both the dielectric constant and the tangent loss. The Cole-Cole plots displayed only a single semicircle, indicating that grain boundaries have strong resistance. The highly efficient iron-doped zinc oxide nanoparticles demonstrate significant antimicrobial potential, making them a promising candidate for application in reducing bacterial contamination on hospitals surfaces, which can contribute to the prevention of hospital-acquired infections.