Influence of Gamma Irradiation on Structural, Thermal and Antibacterial Properties of HPMC/ZnO Nanocomposites

摘要

This work was carried out to evaluate the effect of gamma irradiation on the structural, thermal and antibacterial properties of HPMC/ZnO nanocomposite films exposed to Cobalt-60 (Average energy: 1.25MeV). The X-ray diffraction study revealed that the crystallite size (L in A) decreased as irradiation dose increased. The crystallinity (X_c) of the nanocomposites initially increased and at higher doses it was decreased. The thermal stability of the nanocomposites increased up to 50 kGy and after that decreased as the irradiation dose increased. But, HPMC/ZnO nanocomposite films, showed a promising range of antimicrobial activity against tested micro-organisms making nanocomposites suitable for food packing and other biomedical applications.