Room temperature magnetic ordering and in vitro antibacterial potency of Nd³⁺ doped CeO₂ against the pathogenic bacterial strains

In this study, 5% Nd3+ doped Cerium oxide (Ce0.95Nd0.05O2) was prepared by a modified solid-state reaction method. Crystallite size and lattice strain were determined from the Williamson-Hall (W-H) plot. The four distinct peaks in the photoluminescence (PL) spectra in the visible region signify the structural defects within the crystal lattice. Room temperature ferromagnetism (RTFM) was observed from the hysteresis loop, and the mathematical fitting of the hysteresis loop suggests ferromagnetic dominance (similar to 83%) in the magnetic response. The virgin M-H loop was fitted by the ferromagnetic Brillouin function, which suggests possible domain formation in the sample. The in vitro antibacterial activity of 5% Nd(3+)doped CeO2 was evaluated against two clinically isolated multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacterial strains, namely MLD 2 (Escherichia coli) and MLD 4 (Staphylococcus aureus), utilizing the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), disc agar diffusion (DAD) assays, etc. Notably, compared to the MLD 4 bacterial strain, the synthesized material revealed comparable better antibacterial results against the Gram-negative MLD 2 and in comparison, to the MLD 2 bacterial strain, a relatively higher concentration of the sample is required to completely eradicate the bacterial population of MLD 4. This implies that Ce0.95Nd0.05O2 can destroy the growth of the two tested bacterial strains. In the context of cytotoxicity, up to a certain concentration, the synthesized particle demonstrated no appreciable toxicity towards healthy PBMCs.