Multimetallic Fe-Cr-Ni Nanocomposites with Propitious Antibacterial Effects on Hospital Acquired Bacterial Pathogens: A Promising Substitute to the Conventional Antibiotics

Abstract

The present study aimed to synthesize, characterize, and explore the antimicrobial potential of multi-metallic nanocomposites as an alternative to existing antimicrobial agents to deal with the emergence of drug resistance and superbugs. Fe-Cr-Ni nanocomposites were prepared by a wet chemical method i.e., sol-gel technique. Characterization of formulated nanocomposite was then made based on Fourier Transformed Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy, Energy Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDS), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) analysis. The antibacterial effect of Fe-Cr-Ni nanocomposite was evaluated against clinically significant bacterial cultures using agar well diffusion assay. Moreover, the Minimum inhibitory concentration was also estimated by the tube dilution method and then bactericidal concentrations were also determined. Oxygen, Iron, Nickel, and Chromium bonded with metal oxide interactions were the major constituents of nanocomposite with an average size of 86.0 nm as affirmed by SEM. The XRD analysis revealed the cubic spinel structure of nanocomposites with Debye-Scherrer crystallite size of 48.76nm. The antibacterial effect of Fe-Cr-Ni nanocomposite was observed against distinguished multi-drug resistant nosocomial pathogens i.e., S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. Furthermore, 150µg/ml of Fe-Cr-Ni nanocomposites was established as the optimized inhibitory concentration for both sensitive strains. The MIC was found as 0.5 mg/ml whereas a concentration of > 0.5 mg/ml i.e., 1.0 mg/ml was identified as MBC for both sensitive strains. Hence, Fe-Cr-Ni nanocomposites can be employed in topical formulations as an inexpensive and easily maintainable therapeutic agent in the prevention as well as treatment of various nosocomial infections caused by bacterial resistant mutants or superbugs.