zno nanoparticles via modified polyol method: structural characterization and antimicrobial efficacy

A modified polyol method for the synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (zno nps) is presented in this work. nanoparticles of zinc oxide were prepared at 140 °c by the modified polyol method using sapindus mukorossi plant extract in combination with ethylene glycol and polyethylene glycol (peg-4000) as a green and cost-effective approach. the synthesized nanoparticles were characterized using fourier transform infrared (ftir) spectroscopy, uv-vis spectral analysis, x-ray diffraction (xrd), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (hrtem), scanning electron microscopy (sem), and elemental analysis by energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (edx). uv-vis spectrophotometry investigation reveals that zno nanoparticles (zno nps) exhibit a characteristic absorption peak at 360 nm. tem images revealed that the nanoparticles ranged in size from 15 to 35 nm, with an average size of 21 nm, and exhibited a hexagonal wurtzite crystalline structure. this structure was achieved by heating the precursor solution. the addition of high-molecular-weight peg enhanced the reducing activity and improved the stability of the nanoparticles. the antibacterial activities of zno nps against the gram-positive bacterium staphylococcus aureus (mtcc-96) and the gram-negative bacterium escherichia coli (mtcc-452) were also screened. additionally, the nanoparticles were tested for antifungal activity against aspergillus niger (mtcc-281) and candida albicans (mtcc-854). the inhibition zone observed for these microorganisms ranged from a minimum of 1.66 mm to a maximum of 18.33 mm. these findings suggest that the synthesized zno nps could be potential candidates for antimicrobial applications in healthcare and environmental remediation.