Green approach in fabrication of photocatalytic, antimicrobial, and antioxidant zinc oxide nanoparticles – hydrothermal synthesis using clove hydroalcoholic extract and optimization of the process

Abstract

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) were hydrothermally fabricated, using hydroalcoholic clove extract. GC-MS analysis demonstrated that Eugenol is the main bioactive compound of the prepared extract. Experiments were designed, based on the central composite design. The effects of different amounts of zinc nitrate (2–6 g) and clove extract (10–30 mL) were evaluated for antioxidant and bactericidal properties of the formed ZnO NPs using the response surface methodology. The attained results demonstrated that more desirable NPs with maximum antioxidant activity (85.23%) and bactericidal effect, against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, as manifested in the diameter of formed clear zones of 11.12 and 12.11 mm, respectively, were resulted using 3.98 g of the zinc salt and 20.30 mL of the clove extract. Furthermore, XRD and SEM analysis results revealed that the fabricated ZnO NPs had a hexagonal shape with a particle size of 50 nm and could degrade 70% of methylene blue during UV radiation.

Keywords

• antioxidant activity
• clove extract
• hydrothermal synthesis
• photocatalytic activity
• zinc oxide nanoparticles