Owing to their multiple mechanisms of bactericidal activity, inorganic metal oxides and hybrid metal oxide nanocomposites may serve as a new class of effective disinfectants. Among metal oxide nanoparticles, iron oxide nanoparticles exhibit minimal or no cytotoxicity to human cells with very efficient bactericidal properties over a wide spectrum of bacteria. This paper presents the very first report on antibacterial properties of novel nanocomposites of iron oxide and cobalt oxide nanoparticles against pathogenic bacterial strains B. subtilis, S. aureus, E.coli and S. typhi. The enhanced bactericidal activity of the Fe/Co oxide nanocomposite was the result of synergistic effect of iron oxide and cobalt oxide nanoparticles. The nanocomposites were synthesized using co-precipitation route with increasing cobalt content in the sample and further characterized using XRD, TEM, Raman and VSM to investigate structural, optical and magnetic properties of the prepared nanocomposites, respectively. Also, the prepared nanocomposites were highly biocompatible and found non-toxic to human cell line MCF7.

Recently, the utilization of metal halide perovskites in sensing and their application in environmental studies have reached a new height. Among the different metal halide perovskites, cesium lead halide perovskites (CsPbX₃; X = Cl, Br, and I) and composites have attracted great interest in sensing applications owing to their exceptional optoelectronic properties. Most CsPbX₃ nanostructures and composites possess great structural stability, luminescence, and electrical properties for developing distinct optical and photonic devices. When exposed to light, heat, and water, CsPbX₃ and composites can display stable sensing utilities. Many CsPbX₃ and composites have been reported as probes in the detection of diverse analytes, such as metal ions, anions, important chemical species, humidity, temperature, radiation photodetection, and so forth. So far, the sensing studies of metal halide perovskites covering all metallic and organic–inorganic perovskites have already been reviewed in many studies. Nevertheless, a detailed review of the sensing utilities of CsPbX₃ and composites could be helpful for researchers who are looking for innovative designs using these nanomaterials. Herein, we deliver a thorough review of the sensing utilities of CsPbX₃ and composites, in the quantitation of metal ions, anions, chemicals, explosives, bioanalytes, pesticides, fungicides, cellular imaging, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), toxic gases, humidity, temperature, radiation, and photodetection. Furthermore, this review also covers the synthetic pathways, design requirements, advantages, limitations, and future directions for this material.

Currently, different physical and chemical methods are being used for the synthesis of nanomaterials, which has associated critical issues like environmental toxicity and cost-effectiveness. This requires to be addressed by adopting an alternate approach. This article reports the synthesis and characterisation of undoped and Ag-doped ZnO nanoparticles for antibacterial applications. The nanoparticles were synthesised via a green synthesis approach using leaf extracts of three different plants, namely, Azadirachta indica, Hibiscus rosa-sinensis and Ocimum tenuiflorum. The biosynthesised ZnO:Ag nanoparticles were characterised by XRD, TEM, FESEM, UV-visible spectroscopy, FTIR and DSC-TGA. The antibacterial activity of the synthesised samples was tested against Enterococcus hirae (Gram-positive) and Escherichia coli (Gram-negative) bacteria at 100 µl (0.5 mg/mL) concentrations using the disc diffusion method. Comparatively, ZnO:Ag nanoparticles have shown enhanced antibacterial activity against both E. coli and E. hirae with respect to pure ZnO nanoparticles, which were found to be better than commercial antibiotic kanamycin.

Nanomaterials have specific properties which are uncommon in their bulk counterparts. Because of these unique characteristics, nanotechnology has been explored for various applications by the scientific community and it can play a crucial role in providing solutions of current major healthcare problems. In the present work, we describe the fabrication of a novel inorganic alternative of traditional antibiotics, which can effectively counter the pathogenic bacteria including multi drug resistant bacterial strains. For this purpose, nanocomposites of Fe/Ni oxide with different molar concentrations of nickel have been prepared via wet-chemical approach along with the α -Fe ₂ O ₃ and NiO nanoparticles. The bactericidal efficiency of the prepared samples were tested against pathogenic strains of B. subtilis , S. aureus , E. coli and S. typhi using two distinct methods. In addition to this, structural, physical and chemical properties of the nanomaterials were studied using XRD, TEM, EDAX, Raman, VSM and TGA-DTA. Also, the cytotoxicity of synthesized samples was assessed using MTT assay against human cell lines MCF-10A (normal) and MCF7 (cancer).