This study aims to optimize the calcination temperature and see the effect of adding surfactant on the bandgap, particle size, crystallinity level of CuO nanoparticles (CuO-NP), and the activity of CuO nanoparticles as an antibacterial agent. CuO-NP was successfully synthesized using the chemical precipitation method with variations in calcination temperature of 400, 600, and 800 °C with NaOH as a precipitating agent. The synthesized nanoparticles were further characterized using a UV-Vis, XRD, and SEM-EDX spectrophotometer. The value of the CuO-NP bandgap increases with increasing temperature. The bandgap gets bigger when the absorbance value gets smaller. Increasing the calcination temperature causes the crystal size of CuO-NP to become larger. The best level of crystallinity of CuO-NP was obtained at 68,31% with a calcination temperature of 600 °C. Adding 1% PVP did not significantly prevent agglomeration between CuO-NP particles, thereby increasing the size of CuO-NP particles. Keywords: bandgap, CuO-NP, PVP, temperature