Simple Combustion Synthesis, Structural, Morphological, Optical and Catalytic Properties of ZnO Nanoparticles.

In this present study, semiconductor zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were successfully prepared by microwave irradiation (ZnO-MIM) and conventional combustion (ZnO-CCM) method, respectively using Aloe vera plant extract as reducing agent. Crystal structure, purity and surface morphology of the samples were examined by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. UV-Visible diffuse reflectance (DRS) and photoluminescence (PL) spectral studies was used to analysis the optical property and band gap energy of the samples. The antibacterial activities of ZnO nanostructures (ZnO-MIM and ZnO-CCM) were tested against both gram positive (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus) and gram negative bacteria (Proteus mirabilis, Salmonella typhi) by modified disc diffusion method and observed enhanced activity against P. mirabilis and S. typhi. ZnO nanostructures (ZnO-MIM and ZnO-CCM) were used as the photo-catalysts for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye and observed enhanced efficiency of degradation of MB than that of their same bulk materials. Moreover, the synthesis method is easy with low cost and time consumable and also high yield purity products.

Enhanced Antibacterial Activity and Photo-Catalytic Properties of ZnO Nanoparticles: Pedalium Murex Plant Extract-Assisted Synthesis.

Semiconductor ZnO samples with two different morphologies such as nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) and nano-sheets (ZnO-NSs) was successfully prepared by microwave heating (MHM) and modified sol-gel (SGM) method, respectively using Pedalium Murex plant extract as the bio-reducing agent. Structural, purity and morphology of the samples was examined by X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. Optical property analysis and band gap calculation were carried out by UV-Visible diffuse reflectance (DRS) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy techniques. Kubelka-Munk method was used to measure band band gap of the samples and it shows 3.42 eV and 3.23 eV for ZnO-NPs and ZnO-NSs, respectively. The antibacterial activities of ZnO-NPs and ZnO-NSs against both gram positive (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus) as well as gram negative bacteria (Proteus mirabilis, Salmonella typhi) were tested by modified disc diffusion method and showed important antibacterial activity against P. mirabilis and S. typhi. The photocatalytic activity of ZnO nano-catalysts (ZnO-NPs and ZnO-NSs) for the degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye was studied under solar lighting and the results showed that the samples ZnO-NPs with smaller particle size considerable degradation of MB than ZnO-NSs.