Langmuir Monolayer Techniques for the Investigation of Model Bacterial Membranes and Antibiotic Biodegradation Mechanisms

The amounts of antibiotics of anthropogenic origin released and accumulated in the environment are known to have a negative impact on local communities of microorganisms, which leads to disturbances in the course of the biodegradation process and to growing antimicrobial resistance. This mini-review covers up-to-date information regarding problems related to the omnipresence of antibiotics and their consequences for the world of bacteria. In order to understand the interaction of antibiotics with bacterial membranes, it is necessary to explain their interaction mechanism at the molecular level. Such molecular-level interactions can be probed with Langmuir monolayers representing the cell membrane. This mini-review describes monolayer experiments undertaken to investigate the impact of selected antibiotics on components of biomembranes, with particular emphasis on the role and content of individual phospholipids and lipopolysaccharides (LPS). It is shown that the Langmuir technique may provide information about the interactions between antibiotics and lipids at the mixed film surface (π–A isotherm) and about the penetration of the active substances into the phospholipid monolayer model membranes (relaxation of the monolayer). Effects induced by antibiotics on the bacterial membrane may be correlated with their bactericidal activity, which may be vital for the selection of appropriate bacterial consortia that would ensure a high degradation efficiency of pharmaceuticals in the environment.

Optical Properties of Mixed ZnO: Fe2O3 Grown via Pulsed laser deposition

In this study, mixing of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles with iron oxide(Fe2O3) at (0, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5 and 1)%wt., are deposited on glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique for study characterization ZnO:Fe2O3 as solar cell electrode. The profound effect of mixed film on the structural and optical of ZnO: Fe2O3 thin films was observed. Meanwhile, the films have polycrystalline Hexagonal structures for ZnO, Rhombohedra and cubic structure for Fe2O3, and as indicated by the X-ray diffraction patterns of the films. The mean crystallite size of ZnO increase with increasing mixed ratio. The direct energy gap (Eg) of ZnO is 3.36 eV and decreasing with increasing mixed ratio.