Design, fabrication, antitubercular, antibacterial, antifungal and antioxidant study of silver doped ZnO and CuO nano candidates: A comparative pharmacological study Rohit S. Shinde a , Rahul A. More b, 1 , Vishnu A. Adole a , Prashant B. Koli c , Thansing B. Pawar d, * , Bapu S. Jagdale a , Bhatu S. Desale a , Yuvaraj P. Sarnikar e a Department of Chemistry, MGV's Arts, Commerce and Science College, (Affiliated to Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune (MH), India), Manmad, Taluka-Nandgaon, District- Nashik, 423104, India b Department of Microbiology, Dayanand Science College, (Affiliated to Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded), Latur, 413512, India c Department of Chemistry, Karmveer Abasaheb alias N.M. Sonwane Arts Commerce and Science College, (Affiliated to Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune (MH), India), Satana, Taluka- Baglan, District- Nashik, 422101, India d Research Centre in Chemistry, Loknete Vyankatrao Hiray Arts, Science and Commerce College Panchavati, (Affiliated to Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune (MH), India), Nashik, 422003, India e Department of Chemistry, Dayanand Science College, (Affiliated to Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University, Nanded), Latur, 413512, India ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Silver doped nanomaterials Antimicrobial activity Antioxidant activity TEM Disk diffusion assay ABSTRACT In the present study, ZnO, CuO, CuO/ZnO, 5% Ag/CuO, 10% Ag/CuO, 5%Ag/ZnO, and 10% Ag/ZnO NPs were synthesized to develop bio-nano medicines with potent antibacterial, antifungal, and antioxidant properties. XRD, HR-SEM, EDAX, and HR-TEM spectral analyses were used to establish the structural characteristics of the syn- thesized NPs. According to the XRD study, the average particle size for CuO NPs was 23.42 nm, for ZnO NPs it was 28.00 nm, and for CuO/ZnO nanocomposite; 25.58 nm. The agglomeration of NPs in ZnO and CuO NPs, as well as the presence of agglomeration and nanorods in the CuO–ZnO nanocomposite, were identified using HR-SEM. In the present study, CuO NPs have a cubic crystal structure, whereas ZnO NPs have a hexagonal crystal structure, as confirmed by HR-TEM. Both cubic and hexagonal crystal lattices were found in the CuO/ZnO nanocomposites. The Ag incorporation into the ZnO and CuO NPs was confirmed using the EDAX. Disc diffusion assay was used to access the antibacterial and antifungal activities whereas REMA assay was used to establish MIC values. Anti- bacterial analyses were performed against S. aureus, B. subtilis, B. megaterium, Escherichia coli, and M. tuberculosis, while antifungal studies were conducted on R. oryzae, M. mucido, A. niger, and C.albicans. The antimicrobial ac- tivities of ZnO NPs were found to be more influenced by Ag incorporation than CuO NPs. The optimal dopant for enhancing the antimicrobial activities of the synthesized ZnO NPs was found to be 5% Ag. Furthermore, DPPH and OH radical scavenging results uncovered that synthesized NPs possessed good antioxidant potential. 1. Introduction The monitoring of harmful effects of microorganisms has become inevitable in parallel with the accelerated rise of human life. In a natural balance with the human body and living conditions, a wide variety of microorganisms coexist, but a fast and unrestricted intense proliferation of microbes can result in catastrophic complications. Over several years, multiple antimicrobials were used for inhibition of growth or microbe control [1–4]. Due to the rising microbial resistance that arises from the overuse of antibiotics, some of the antibacterial drugs currently have little efficacy towards microbes [5–7]. Crucially, the rise of various fungal diseases and life-threatening tuberculosis is now considered as one the most dangerous situations to tackle [8–10]. Besides, the inefficacy of various drugs towards tuberculosis treatment has affected most of the parts of the world [11–13]. Consequently, there is an urgent need to develop antimicrobial agents that are new and more potent [14–16]. Nanomaterials are amongst the most influential operatives to address the problem of antibiotic resistance through designing nanomaterials that * Corresponding author. E-mail address: tbpawar03@gmail.com (T.B. Pawar). 1 Author Contributed equally to this manuscript. Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Current Research in Green and Sustainable Chemistry journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/journals/ current-research-in-green-and-sustainable-chemistry/2666-0865 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crgsc.2021.100138 Received 17 April 2021; Received in revised form 13 June 2021; Accepted 25 June 2021 Available online 3 July 2021 2666-0865/© 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- nc-nd/4.0/). Current Research in Green and Sustainable Chemistry 4 (2021) 100138