Study of antibacterial and photocatalytic potential of phytomediatically synthesized ZnO nanoparticles from Prunus domestica L.

Abstract

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) are anticipated to be one of the three most commonly produced nanomaterials, alongside TiO₂ and SiO₂ nanoparticles. Many methods are used to synthesize the ZnONPs that affect their precise chemical and physical characteristics. Phyto-mediated synthesis of ZnONPs is one of the most emerging methods nowadays. In the current study, powder of the seed coat of Prunus domestica L. is extracted using different solvents, namely Petroleum ether (PE), Diethyl ether (DEE), Ethyl acetate (EA), Methanol (MeOH) and Distilled water (DW). The EA extract has shown the highest antibacterial activity among all the extracts with a zone of inhibition of 24 mm against P. aeruginosa. The EA extract of the seed coat of P. domestica is further utilized to synthesize the ZnONPs, regarded as PDEA-ZnONPs. The Ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis), Fourier transformation infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) spectroscopic techniques are used to characterized the synthesized PDEA-ZnONPs. The morphology of PDEA-ZnONPs is found to be spherical with hexagonal wurtzite structure. The average crystallite size of PDEA-ZnONPs is found to be 23.485 ± 6.446 mm. The PDEA-ZnONPs are further utilized in the photocatalytic degradation of Methylene blue (MB) and Methyl orange (MO) dyes. The results of photocatalytic degradation of both the dyes displayed impressive degradation of MB and MO with 88.469 and 91.065 % in 300 min, respectively. Further, the synthesized PDEA-ZnONPs have shown the best antibacterial activity against E. coli and S. aureus with 28 mm zones of inhibition each.