The current feasibility study deals with the elimination of Escherichia coli (gram-negative) and Staphylococcus aureus (gram-positive) bacterial strains isolated from swimming pools using zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) doped with copper (Cu2+) ions (CuX%/ZnO NPs) and co-doped with copper (Cu2+) and silver (Ag+) ions (AgX%/CuY%/ZnO NPs) synthesized by sol-gel method. Antibacterial activity was evaluated by Agar well diffusion assay. As-produced NPs were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Field emission-scanning electron microscopy, Energy Dispersive X-Ray and Transmission electron microscopy techniques. The results showed that the size of the co-doped NPs was smaller than that of mono-doped NPs. Meanwhile, co-doped Ag5%/Cu5%/ZnO NPs had the maximum bactericidal activity, and the destructive effect on Gram-positive bacteria was greater than that on Gram-negative bacteria. The lowest effective nanoparticle concentrations were 0.1 and 0.05 g/mL. The main bactericidal mechanism, in addition to the size of co-doped NPs, was due to the formation of reactive oxygen species, so that the destruction of the bacterial cell wall and finally death occurred through the radicals formed.

中文翻译：

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铜离子掺杂及铜银共掺杂氧化锌纳米粒子抗菌活性评价

目前的可行性研究涉及使用掺有铜 (Cu2+) 离子 (CuX% /ZnO NPs)和共掺杂铜(Cu2+)和银(Ag+)离子(AgX%/CuY%/ZnO NPs)通过溶胶-凝胶法合成。通过琼脂扩散试验评估抗菌活性。所生产的 NPs 通过 X 射线衍射、场发射扫描电子显微镜、能量色散 X 射线和透射电子显微镜技术进行表征。结果表明，共掺杂纳米粒子的尺寸小于单掺杂纳米粒子的尺寸。同时，共掺杂的 Ag5%/Cu5%/ZnO NPs 具有最大的杀菌活性，对革兰氏阳性菌的破坏作用大于对革兰氏阴性菌的破坏作用。最低有效纳米颗粒浓度为 0.1 和 0.05 g/mL。主要的杀菌机制，除了共掺杂 NPs 的大小外，是由于活性氧的形成，从而通过形成的自由基破坏细菌细胞壁并最终导致死亡。