Zinc Oxide Nanorods from Prunus domestica L.: Bio-Assisted Synthesis, Characterization, Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Activities

Abstract

The unique characteristics and extraordinary features of nanotechnology and nanoscience are making them the next big, rapidly expanding fields. Nowadays, there is a lot of interest in bio-assisted synthesis as a way to get beyond the limits of physical and chemical methods. In the present work, we synthesized the zinc oxide nanorods (ZnONRs) using a methanolic extract of the seed coats of Prunus domestica L., which are regarded as PDMeOH-ZnONRs. Standard characterization techniques (UV-Vis, FTIR, XRD and FE-SEM) were used to examine the morphological properties of the synthesized PDMeOH-ZnONRs. The UV-Vis spectrum has shown the SPR peak between 311 – 351 nm confirming the synthesis of PDMeOH-ZnONRs. The fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectrum revealed the presence of different functional groups like hydroxyl, amine, nitrile, nitro, carboxyl, esters etc. in the fabricated PDMeOH-ZnONRs. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis confirmed the wurtzite hexagonal structure. The diameter of PDMeOH-ZnONRs ranged from 42.373 ± 9.109 nm, which is confirmed by the field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) technique. The PDMeOH-ZnONRs exhibited excellent 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) inhibitory activity with an IC50 value of 31.700 ± 1.239 µg/mL. The PDMeOH-ZnONRs have shown outstandinghydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) scavenging activity with an IC50 value of 33.126 ± 0.717 µg/mL. Further, the cytotoxicity of the PDMeOH-ZnONRs was checked by brine shrimp lethality assay (BSLA) and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay, which showed LC50 value of 91.336 ± 3.784 mg/L and IC50 value of 174.240 ± 0.460 µg/mL respectively. Overall findings indicate that the PDMeOH-ZnONRs synthesized via green route have good biological potentials and might be employed in future biomedical applications.