Synthesis and Characterization of Copper Oxide with Aloe Vera Capping

Abstract:
Copper oxide is a ductile metal with high thermal and electrical conductivity and possesses antimicrobial properties. In the present study, pure nano CuO was successfully synthesized by sol–gel method. Aloevera a natural plant, has very strong antiseptic, anti -inflammatory, anti-viral, anti-tumor, antibacterial and immuno modulatory properties. Hence a sincere effort has been made to synthesize and study nano CuO with aloevera because a combination of this will have inhibitory action on fungi, bacteria and viruses. The CuO and CuO aloevera composition was characterized by X– ray diffraction for structural determination and estimation of crystallite size, scanning electron microscope to study the surface morphology , Ultra visible spectroscopy for energy gap, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy to identify the functional groups in the sample and the Vibrational band assignment of the prominent peaks. The inclusion of the capping molecule Aloe Vera with CuO composition has been found to control the size and distribution. Further, anti-bacterial study by disc diffusion method on Muller Hinton agar (MHA) medium showed that nano CuO with aloe vera has microbial activity for 1000 µg/ml and 750 µg/ml.
Keywords:Copper oxide, Synthesis, characterization, aloe Vera