merged

Synergism of Zinc Oxide Nano- powder with Active Compound from
Turmeric and Lemongrass as Microbial Inhibitor
Lau Gee Een
Supervisor: Dr. Mohd Sabri bin Mohd Ghazali
Co- Supervisor: Dr Che Azurahanim binti Che Abdullah
Bachelor of Applied Science (Electronics and Instrumentation Physics)
School of Ocean Engineering
Zinc oxide nanoparticles exhibit attractive antibacterial properties since they have
small particle size leading to good surface reactivity. Lemongrass and turmeric
endowed with biologically active polar compounds is widely used in folk medicine
practice as traditional medicine. The aims of this project are to synergize zinc oxide
nanoparticles with both extracts and measure the zone of inhibition to determine their
effectiveness. The active compounds are extracted from both lemongrass and turmeric
and were added into zinc oxide nano-solution in ratio to form antimicrobial agent and
tested by disc diffusion method. The combination of both extracts and suspension of
extracts with zinc oxide nano-solution showed antimicrobial activity against gramnegative
bacteria, Escherichia coli, with diameter of 1.5, 1.6 and 1.1 cm respectively.
There is no antibacterial activity on gram- positive bacteria, Staphylococcus Aureus.
To conclude, the suspension of both extracts with zinc oxide could be further
developed for pharmaceutical biological agents.
133 | U M T U N D E R G R A D U A T E R E S E A R C H D A Y 2 0 1 9