Facile green synthesis inorganic cuprous oxide nanoparticles and their antibacterial properties

Here, the authors described a sustainable green synthesis approach to synthesize cuprous oxide nanoparticles (NPs) using Olea europaea extract. The resulting synthesized cuprous oxide NPs were characterized by the UV–Visible spectra, scanning electron microscopy (SEM)/energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The average cuprous oxide NPs crystallite size of about 30 nm was calculated using the Scherrer formula. According to TEM, the resulting synthesized cuprous oxide NPs are spherical shaped. The cuprous oxide NP provides good antibacterial activity versus the two strains compared to Olea europaea aqueous extract; cuprous oxide NP has higher MIC against Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae.