Bull. Mater. Sci.

(2020) 43:20 © Indian Academy of Sciences

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12034-019-1986-y

The effect of shape and size of ZnO nanoparticles on their

antimicrobial and photocatalytic activities: a green approach

SAURABH SHARMA1 , KULDEEP KUMAR1,∗ , NAVEEN THAKUR2 , S CHAUHAN3

and M S CHAUHAN3
1 Department of Chemistry, Career Point University, Hamirpur 176041, India
2 Department of Physics, Career Point University, Hamirpur 176041, India
3 Department of Chemistry, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla 171005, India
∗ Author for correspondence ([email protected])

MS received 21 December 2018; accepted 16 July 2019

Abstract. In this paper, ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) having potent photocatalytic and antimicrobial activities have been
synthesized by using the aloe vera plant extract. The ZnO NPs have been synthesized using (Zn(CH3 COO)2 ·2H2 O) (5,
10 and 50 mmol kg−1 ), at temperature 70◦ C and pH 11.5. The synthesized NPs were examined using UV–Visible, X-ray
diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and transmission electron microscopy
(TEM) characterization techniques. TEM analysis confirms the synthesis of ZnO NPs with hexagonal, spherical, cylindrical
and cuboidal shapes decorated under different concentrations of precursor metal salt. UV–Visible studies revealed that
ZnO NPs have a wide energy band gap varying from 3.36 to 3.43 eV. The synthesized ZnO NPs were examined for the
photocatalytic degradation of methyl orange dye which resulted in up to 95% degradation. ZnO NPs are also inspected for
the antibacterial activity against Bacillus subtilis (MTCC 441), Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC 737) and Escherichia coli
(MTCC 739) pathogenic bacteria.

Keywords. Aloe vera; antimicrobial activity; green synthesis; methyl orange; zinc oxide nanoparticles.

1. Introduction a consistent progress on the synthesis of ZnO NPs through

the biological/green/plant extract method. The first research
Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) are well known for their article on ZnO NP synthesis using latex of the Calotropis pro-
wide range of applications. In the past few years, research on cera plant extract has been published in 2011 [9]. This method
nanomaterials has been focused mainly on the synthesis and works on the reduction of the use of hazardous chemicals
applications of ZnO NPs due to their excellent biocompati- thereby leading to an energy efficient and low-temperature
bility, low cost and low toxicity [1]. Further, the application method for the synthesis of NPs.
efficiency of these NPs depends upon their physical and chem- Industrialization increases the evolution of various waste
ical aspects such as size, shape, surface state, crystal structure, materials secreted in most of the water resources which results
attached moiety, dispensability, etc. [2,3]. Similarly, compos- in the contamination of water and makes it hazardous. NPs
ites of NPs and doping with optical materials can be a tool are known for their valuable catalytic properties and are
for tailoring the band gap and other imperative properties being used for the photocatalytic degradation of various waste
[4]. Therefore, research in the field of methods of synthe- water contaminations. Numerous metal NPs like gold, sil-
sis of NPs is oriented towards controlling their shape, size ver, platinum, palladium, etc. have been extensively used in
and composition as each parameter is a key aspect in defining the catalytic and electro-catalytic applications [6]. Although
the properties. these metals showed significant achievements in catalysis,
A number of methods, divided into three main categories they are not economical, and so this demands the need for the
such as physical, chemical and biological methods, have been synthesis of economical metal NPs like ZnO [10]. In addition
exercised for the synthesis of ZnO NPs. Physical methods to catalysis, ZnO NPs are also employed in the medical field
comprise the ball milling, laser ablation, chemical vapour as NPs are proficient antimicrobial agents. Currently, sev-
deposition, etc. These methods require large energy, time and eral pathogenic bacteria have developed that cause an adverse
area, which make them inappropriate for the synthesis of NPs. impact on health. NPs have been proved to be an effective tool
In the chemical methods, there is use of harmful and toxic to inhibit these pathogenic bacteria which show resistance to
chemicals for the reduction and stabilization of NPs, which most of the commercially available antibiotics [11].
makes these methods unfriendly and unsustainable from the Therefore, in the present work, we have attempted to imple-
environmental point of view [5–8]. In the past, we can see ment the green method for the synthesis of ZnO NPs using the

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 20 Page 2 of 10 Bull. Mater. Sci. (2020) 43:20

aloe vera leaf extract. The synthesized ZnO NPs have been 2.2d Antimicrobial activity: The antimicrobial activity of the
successfully employed as photocatalysts in dye degradation synthesized ZnO NPs was determined using well diffusion
and antimicrobial agents against the three different pathogenic assay (NCCLS) [13] against the three different pathogens
bacteria. namely, B. subtilis (MTCC 441), S. aureus (MTCC 737)
and E. coli (MTCC 739). The isolated colonies were col-
lected from an agar plate and transferred into a test tube
2. Materials and methods which contains autoclaved 0.85% saline solution. The tur-
bidity of inoculum (test tube solution) was compared with
2.1 Materials 0.5 McFarland standards so that inoculum contains 1−2 ×
108 CFU ml−1 . Mueller Hinton agar (MHA) plates were pre-
Deionized distilled water with a conductivity of 2−3 × pared and a sterilized cotton swab was dipped into inoculum
10−6 S cm−1 and a pH of 6.8–7.0 (at 298.15 K) was used for all and swab streaked over the entire surface of MHA plates
experiments. Zinc acetate di-hydrate (Zn(CH3 COO)2 ·2H2 O), for each inoculum. The wells were made on the plates and
potassium hydroxide (KOH) and methyl orange (MO) dye different concentrations of the synthesized ZnO NP solution
were obtained from Merck Pvt. Ltd. and were used as (w/v) prepared in methanol were loaded into the wells by
such without further purification. Microbes Bacillus sub- taking methanol as the negative control and ciprofloxacin
tilis (MTCC 441), Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC 737) and (100 µg ml−1 w/v) as the positive control. The plates were
Escherichia coli (MTCC 739) were obtained from the CSIR- incubated at 37◦ C for 24 h. After incubation, the zones of
IMTECH, Chandigarh, in the form of freeze dried ampoule. inhibitions were measured and reported.
Aloe vera plant leaves were collected from the nearby area of
Career Point University Hamirpur (HP).

2.2 Methods O N N

2.2a Preparation of the aloe vera leaf extract: Fresh leaf aloe -O S N
vera plants were collected, weighed (25 g) and washed with Na+
tap water and then with distilled water to remove the impu- O
rities. The washed leaves were crushed and boiled for about
15 min in 100 ml distilled water. The boiled extract was cooled Figure 1. Chemical structure of MO.
and filtered through Whatman filter paper. The filtered plant
extract solution was used for the synthesis of ZnO NPs. The
3
plant extract was stored in a refrigerator for further use [12]. (c)
2.2b Synthesis of ZnO NPs: Aqueous solutions of zinc acetate 2

di-hydrate (5, 10 and 50 mmol kg−1 ) were prepared using dis-

tilled water. The above-prepared aloe vera plant extract was 1

added dropwise to these solutions (∼5 ml min−1 ) in a round

bottom flask under constant stirring and heating at 70◦ C. 0

About 15 min after the addition, freshly prepared 0.2 mol kg−1
0.5
(b)
KOH solution was added dropwise to the reaction mixture to
Absorbance

maintain the pH of 11.5. The formation of ZnO NPs was 0.0

confirmed by the appearance of yellowish white colour pre-

cipitates in the solution mixture. After constant stirring and -0.5
heating for 4 h, the ZnO NPs were collected and washed 3–
4 times with distilled water and then with ethanol. The NPs -1.0
1.0
were dried in a hot air oven at 55−60◦ C before further use. (a)
0.5
2.2c Characterization of NPs: The synthesis of ZnO NPs
has been confirmed from the UV–visible spectra of the com- 0.0
pounds. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) has been used for
-0.5
determining the crystallinity, phase and phase purity of the
NPs. A field emission-scanning electron microscope (FE- -1.0
SEM) was used for the morphological studies with the 300 600 900

SEM-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) for ele- Wavelength (nm)

mental detection analysis. Transmission electron microscopy
(TEM) was used for the shape and size determination of the Figure 2. UV–visible spectra of ZnO NPs at different concentra-
ZnO NPs. tions of Zn(CH3 COO)2 ·2H2 O: (a) 5, (b) 10 and (c) 50 mmol kg−1 .
Bull. Mater. Sci. (2020) 43:20 Page 3 of 10 20

Further, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and serial dilutions were made up to the ninth well. After this,
minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of the synthe- 30 µl inoculums were added to each well. The 10th well
sized ZnO NPs have been measured by using the broth micro was taken as the growth control well (containing MHB and
dilution method (CLSI) [13]. In this test, double strength inoculum only), 11th well as the negative control (containing
Mueller-Hinton broth (MHB) and 2× (double concentration) MHB and inoculum with methanol) and 12th well was taken
solution of ZnO NPs were prepared. Each well of the 96- as the positive control (containing MHB and inoculum with
well micro-titer plate was loaded with 100 µl of MHB. Then, ciprofloxacin). Micro-titer plates were incubated at 37◦ C for
100 µl of ZnO NPs (2×) were added into the first well and 24 h. The lowest concentration that shows visual inhibition
of growth was considered as the MIC of the ZnO NPs for
the respective organism. For the MBC measurements, 10 µl
Table 1. λmax and energy band gap (E g ) values of ZnO NPs at of suspension from each well of the micro-titer plate was
different concentrations of Zn(CH3 COO)2 ·2H2 O. inoculated on a nutrient agar plate at 37◦ C for 24 h. The con-
ma (mmol kg−1 ) λmax (nm) E g (eV) centration of ZnO NPs, which show the absence of colonies
on the agar plates, was taken as the MBC for the respective
5 361 3.435 NPs.
10 368 3.370 2.2e Photocatalytic degradation of dye: To investigate the
50 369 3.360
photocatalytic activity of the synthesized ZnO NPs, 100 ml
a m is the molality of Zn(CH COO) ·2H O in water. of 10 ppm MO (figure 1) solution was treated with 25, 50 and
3 2 2
100 mg of ZnO NP catalytic loads distinctly for 160 min in the
presence of UV light. The decomposition of MO was exam-
ined by the rate of dye degradation estimated by evaluating the
(c)
change in absorbance in the UV–Visible spectrophotometer
Cary 100 Bio at λ = 465 nm [14].

3. Results and discussion

(b)
3.1 UV–visible spectroscopic analysis
Intensity

The optical properties of the synthesized ZnO NPs have been

investigated by carrying out UV–visible spectroscopy mea-
surements in an interval of 200–800 nm. The clear suspension
solutions of NPs in methanol were prepared by using a son-
(a) icator. The UV–visible spectra of the synthesized NPs at
different concentrations of Zn(CH3 COO)2 ·2H2 O (5, 10 and
50 mmol kg−1 ) (figure 2) show a hump near 370 nm, which
is the characteristic peak of the ZnO NPs [15]. The optical
energy band gap (E g ) given in table 1 was calculated as:

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 hc
Eg = (1)
2θ (Degree) λ

Figure 3. XRD patterns of ZnO NPs at different concentrations of where h is Planck’s constant = 6.626 × 10−34 J s, C is
Zn(CH3 COO)2 ·2H2 O: (a) 5, (b) 10 and (c) 50 mmol kg−1 . the velocity of light = 3 × 108 m s−1 and λ corresponds

Table 2. Crystallite size (D), inter-planar spacing (d), lattice parameters

(a = b and c) and volume (V ) calculated from XRD measurements at different
concentrations of Zn(CH3 COO)2 ·2H2 O.

ma (mmol kg−1 ) D (nm) d (nm) a = b (nm) c (nm) V (nm3 )

5 30.145 0.246 0.323 0.517 4.677

10 30.155 0.246 0.322 0.516 4.626
50 30.349 0.247 0.324 0.519 4.711
a m is the molality of zinc acetate di-hydrate in water.
 20 Page 4 of 10 Bull. Mater. Sci. (2020) 43:20

Figure 4. SEM/EDS spectra of ZnO NPs at different concentrations of Zn(CH3 COO)2 ·2H2 O: (a) 5, (b) 10 and
(c) 50 mmol kg−1 .

to the wavelength of the peak with the maximum intensity band gap values are reported by Suresh et al (3.33 eV) [17] and
[16]. Hancock et al (3.39 eV) [18]. The change in the value of E g
The band gap values are found to be approximately equal with concentration of Zn(CH3 COO)2 ·2H2 O can be attributed
to 3.4 eV, which is in accordance with the literature. Similar to the change in the shape/size of the ZnO NPs. Further,
Bull. Mater. Sci. (2020) 43:20 Page 5 of 10 20

Figure 5. TEM images of ZnO NPs at different concentrations of Zn(CH3 COO)2 ·2H2 O: (a) 5, (b) 10 and (c) 50 mmol kg−1 .

Figure 6. (i) Antibacterial activity of the aloe vera leaf extract and ZnO NPs at different concentrations of
Zn(CH3 COO)2 ·2H2 O: (ii) 5, (iii) 10 and (iv) 50 mmol kg−1 against (a–d) B. subtilis, (e–h) S. aureus and (i–l)
E. coli, respectively.

a decrease in E g values is the result of the increase in the crystal system of the synthesized ZnO NPs. XRD patterns
particle size [19]. (figure 3) show peaks at angle 2θ ≈ 31, 34, 36, 47, 56, 63, 66,
68 and 69◦ , which correspond to (100), (002), (101), (102),
3.2 XRD analysis (110), (103), (200), (112) and (201) crystal planes of ZnO
NPs. Similar planes are reported by Hameed et al [20] for
XRD analysis has been carried out to confirm the crystalline the ZnO NPs. In the spectra, no extra peaks have been seen
nature, phase purity and formation of the hexagonal wurtzite except the peaks for the ZnO NPs, which confirm the phase
 20 Page 6 of 10 Bull. Mater. Sci. (2020) 43:20

purity of all the synthesized ZnO NPs. An XRD technique also nλ = 2d sin θ (3)
determines the structural arrangement of the particles and  
1 4 h 2 + hk + k 2 l2
shape and size of the unit cell of the compound. Clear and 2
= + (4)
sharp peaks at the definite positions explain the hexagonal dhkl 3 a2 c2
crystal nature with the wurtzite structure of all the synthesized √
3 2
ZnO NPs. The crystallite size (D) of the NPs is determined V = a c (5)
2
by taking the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the
most intense peak using the Debye–Scherrer equation (2)
[20]. Inter-planar spacing (d), lattice parameters (a = b and where λ = 1.5406 Å, β = FWHM, θ = Bragg’s angle, (hkl)
c) for the hexagonal wurtzite structure and volume of the = Miller indices, dhkl = inter-planar spacing, V = volume
hexagonal system unit cell (V ) have been calculated by using of the unit cell and a, c = lattice parameters for the ZnO NP
the Bragg’s equations (3–5), respectively [21–23]. All these hexagonal system.
parameters are summarized in table 2. The data reported in table 2 are closely related to the lit-
erature with a slight variation due to the different shapes and
0.94λ sizes of ZnO NPs [24]. The crystallite size (D) of ZnO NPs
D= (2) slightly increases on increasing the Zn(CH3 COO)2 ·2H2 O
β cos θ

Table 3. The zones of inhibition of the prepared aloe vera leaf extract and synthesized ZnO NPs
at different concentrations of Zn(CH3 COO)2 ·2H2 O.

Bacteria ma (mmol kg−1 ) NPs dosage (mg ml−1 ) Zone of inhibition (mm)

B. subtilis 5 10 13.50 ± 0.5b

25 14.25 ± 0.25
50 15.23 ± 0.07
10 10 14.26 ± 0.15
25 15 ± 0.58
50 15.93 ± 0.54
50 10 15.80 ± 0.8
25 16.85 ± 0.85
50 18.53 ± 0.77
Aloe vera leaf extract 25/50/100 µl per well No zone of inhibition
Ciprofloxacin Ciprofloxacin 0.1 mg ml−1 35 ± 1
S. aureus 5 10 8.90 ± 0.6
25 10.10 ± 0.4
50 10.75 ± 0.25
10 10 8.90 ± 0.58
25 9.10 ± 0.61
50 9.75 ± 0.43
50 10 9.70 ± 0.1
25 10.50 ± 0.5
50 11.40 ± 0.6
Aloe vera leaf extract 25/50/100 µl per well No zone of inhibition
Ciprofloxacin Ciprofloxacin 0.1 mg ml−1 30 ± 1.2
E. coli 5 10 9.50 ± 0.5
25 10.65 ± 0.65
50 11.30 ± 0
10 10 8.89 ± 0.11
25 9.33 ± 0.33
50 10.56 ± 0.43
50 10 9.25 ± 0.25
25 10.25 ± 0.25
50 11.65 ± 0.35
Aloe vera leaf extract 25/50/100 µl per well No zone of inhibition
Ciprofloxacin Ciprofloxacin 0.1 mg ml−1 33 ± 0.7
a m is the molality of zinc acetate di-hydrate in water.
b Standard error in measurement of zone of inhibition.
Bull. Mater. Sci. (2020) 43:20 Page 7 of 10 20

concentration, however, the inter-planar spacing (d) values in the shape and size of the particles has been observed at
are unchanged. 10 mmol kg−1 and particles were spherical and hexagonal in
shape. However, the average sizes of the particles are ∼65
3.3 SEM/EDS spectral analysis and 60–180 nm for hexagonal- and spherical-shaped particles,
respectively. Finally, at 50 mmol kg−1 cuboidal/rod-shaped
The SEM images provide the morphological representa- particles with an average size of 40–45 nm are obtained. Thus,
tions of the synthesized ZnO NPs as illustrated in fig- there is a transformation in the shape of NPs on increasing the
ure 4. These images inferred that the ZnO NPs synthe- concentration of Zn(CH3 COO)2 ·2H2 O. Wang et al [27] have
sized at 50 mmol kg−1 concentration of zinc acetate di- also coined similar results with distorted spherical-shaped
hydrate are cylindrical in shape, whereas at both 5 and particles and explained that the shape of ZnO NPs changed
10 mmol kg−1 concentrations the NPs look like spherical in from rods to globular with a decrease in the particle size, as
shape. the concentration of ZnCl2 solution increased.
The peaks in the EDS spectra illustrated in figure 4
confirm the presence of Zn and O in all the synthesized
ZnO NPs. However, peaks corresponding to Au may be
due to gold coating used in SEM/EDS micrograph anal- 3.5 Antimicrobial activity
ysis. The peak corresponding to elemental carbon may be
attributed to the carbon tape or organic molecules from The agar well diffusion method [13] has been applied to exam-
the aloe vera leaf extract which are involved in the sta- ine the antimicrobial activity of the synthesized NPs. The
bilization of ZnO NPs. Samat and Nor [25] also reported activities of the ZnO NPs for the B. subtilis (MTCC 441), S.
spherical-shaped ZnO NPs with a size of 50–200 nm by aureus (MTCC 737) and E. coli (MTCC 739) have been inves-
using the sol–gel method of green synthesis. On the other tigated on the MHA. The zones of inhibition of the prepared
hand, Elangovan et al [26] have used the chemical synthe- aloe vera leaf extract and synthesized ZnO NPs (figure 6)
sis method and reported the spherical- to rod-shaped ZnO have been measured for each bacteria and are summarized in
NPs. table 3. It has been noticed that the prepared aloe vera leaf
extract has shown no zone of inhibition for all the studied
3.4 TEM analysis bacteria (figure 6), which may be attributed to the low con-
centration of the leaf extract. However, from table 3, it can be
Figure 5 represents the TEM images of ZnO NPs synthe- seen that the largest zone of inhibition for all the synthesized
sized at different concentrations of Zn(CH3 COO)2 ·2H2 O. ZnO NPs has been generally obtained for B. subtilis, which
From analysis of TEM images, it can be concluded that the is followed by E. coli and S. aureus, respectively.
shape and size of ZnO NPs vary with the concentration of The biological activity with respect to the microbes has
Zn(CH3 COO)2 ·2H2 O. At 5 mmol kg−1 the shape of NPs is been evaluated for 10, 25 and 50 mg ml−1 ZnO NPs in
hexagonal with an average size of ∼63 nm. A little variation methanol as the solvent. 30 µl of solution of ZnO NPs

Table 4. MIC and MBC values of ZnO NPs and ciprofloxacin for different
bacteria under study.

Bacteria ma (mmol kg−1 ) MIC (µg ml−1 ) MBC (µg ml−1 )

B. subtilis 5 391 (895.18)b 12500

10 391 6250
50 195 12500
Ciprofloxacin <1 < 0.5
S. aureus 5 781 (732.42)b (1000)c 6250
10 391 6250
50 391 12500
Ciprofloxacin 16.65 1
E. coli 5 1562 (1708.98)b (3400)c 12500
10 1562 12500
50 1562 12500
Ciprofloxacin <1 0.5
a m is the molality of zinc acetate di-hydrate in water.
b Ref [29].
c Ref [7].
 20 Page 8 of 10 Bull. Mater. Sci. (2020) 43:20

was loaded into the wells by taking the methanol as the NPs synthesized by using chemical methods, as mentioned in
negative control and ciprofloxacin (100 µg ml−1 w/v) as the the parenthesis of table 4 [7,29], we found that these values
positive control. On comparison, the cuboidal-shaped ZnO are greater than the values calculated in the present study.
NPs are found to be relatively more effective as com- These observations clearly show that the plant-mediated ZnO
pared to other NPs. The values of MIC and MBC have NPs are more efficient antibacterial agents.
been calculated by using the 96th well micro-titer plate and
are tabulated in table 4. The MIC and MBC value ranges 3.6 Photocatalytic degradation of MO dye
between 195 and 3125 µg ml−1 and 6250 and 12500 µg ml−1 ,
respectively. Lingaraju et al [23] and Prashanth et al [21] The synthesized NPs have been investigated as photocatalysts
have reported similar results for the antibacterial activ- for the degradation of MO (10 ppm) in the presence of UV
ity of ZnO NPs synthesized using Ruta graveolens and light. MO shows absorbance in UV–visible light at 465 nm.
Punica granatum/Tamarindus indica, respectively. Kronvall In the presence of catalyst and UV light, the degradation of
has reported the results, which are in favour of our find- dye has been studied as a function of decrease in the intensity
ings on the zone of inhibition, MIC and MBC values for the of the absorption peak of MO at 465 nm with the passage of
ciprofloxacin [28]. Further, if we compare MIC values of ZnO time (figure 7).

(a) (b)
90
100
Dosage of NPs (mg)
100 80 Dosage of NPs (mg)
50 100
80 70
25 50
% Photodegradation

% Photodegradation

60 25

60
50

40
40
30

20 20

10
0
0

-20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 -20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
Time (minute) Time (minute)

(c)
100
Dosage of NPs (mg)
100
80 50
25
% Photodegradation

60

40

20

-20 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180

Time (minute)

Figure 7. Percentage photodegradation of 10 ppm MO dye with the passage of time in the presence of ZnO NPs at different concentrations
of Zn(CH3 COO)2 ·2H2 O: (a) 5, (b) 10 and (c) 50 mmol kg−1 .
Bull. Mater. Sci. (2020) 43:20 Page 9 of 10 20

Table 5. Percentage of photocatalytic degradation of 100 ml of 10 ppm MO dye solution at

different dosages of ZnO NPs.

Percentage of photocatalytic
ma (mmol kg−1 ) NPs dosage (mg) Time (min) degradation of MO dye (%)

5 25 160 65.3
50 140 95.7
100 160 86.9
10 25 160 60.4
50 160 85.6
100 160 69.6
50 25 160 68.3
50 160 86.5
100 160 94.4
a m is the molality of zinc acetate di-hydrate in water.

The UV light plays an efficient role in the degradation of efficiency has been observed with a further increase in the
the dye and the degradation can easily be examined by the catalyst dosage from 1 to 2 g l−1 .
decolourisation of the dye solution in the presence of NPs. On
increasing the UV irradiation time, there is efficient photo-
catalytic degradation of the dye solution as examined with 4. Conclusions
the help of a UV–Visible spectrophotometer. The percentage
degradation of dye was calculated from the following rela- The present study provides a cost effective and eco-friendly
tionship method for the synthesis of ZnO NPs as potent photo-catalysts
and antimicrobial agents. The TEM images revealed that the
Ao − At shapes of the synthesized NPs varied with the concentration
%Degradation = × 100 (6)
Ao of the originator Zn(CH3 COO)2 ·2H2 O. However, the size of
NPs ranges from 40 to 180 nm. The synthesized ZnO NPs have
where Ao is the absorbance of pure dye solution and At is the been assessed for their antibacterial activities against three
absorbance of the reaction mixture at time t. bacteria, B. subtilis, E. coli and S. aureus. The largest zone of
The results of degradation of dye MO (table 5) revealed inhibition has been attained generally for B. subtilis, which is
that the catalytic efficiency of hexagonal- and spherical- followed by E. coli and S. aureus, respectively. Further, the
shaped ZnO NPs (i.e., for [Zn(CH3 COO)2 ·2H2 O] = 5 MIC and MBC values lie between 195 and 3125 µg ml−1 and
and 10 mmol kg−1 ) follows the order of catalytic load as 6250 and 12500 µg ml−1 , respectively. The cuboidal-shaped
50 > 100 > 25 mg for 100 ml of 10 ppm MO solution, NPs were found to be more protuberant in antibacterial activ-
whereas in the case of cuboidal-shaped ZnO NPs (i.e., for ities as compared to spherical- and hexagonal-shaped NPs.
[Zn(CH3 COO)2 ·2H2 O] = 50 mmol kg−1 ) the order of cat- The synthesized ZnO NPs show tremendous catalytic activ-
alytic load is 100 > 50 > 25 mg. This order can be attributed ities for the degradation of dye MO in the presence of UV
to the morphology of the spherical/hexagonal-shaped ZnO light. Up to 95% degradation of the dye MO in the time inter-
NPs that provide the large interstitial space to accommo- val of 140–160 min has been observed in the presence of
date the dye molecules and undergo degradation much more NPs as catalysts. The shape of the NPs played a vital role
efficiently at 50 mg load. Moreover, the photocatalytic degra- in photo-catalysis. For the spherical- and hexagonal-shaped
dation efficiency depends on the active surface area of the particles, 50 mg catalytic load for 100 ml of 10 ppm MO dye
photo-catalyst. It has been reported that the photocatalytic solution is more effective than the 100 and 25 mg catalytic
degradation efficiency increases as the amount of the photo- load. However, for cuboidal-shaped NPs, on increasing the
catalyst increases but after a certain value there is a decrease catalytic load from 25 to 100 mg, the degradation efficiency
in degradation [30]. This outcome can be explained as, after goes on increasing.
a peak value, an increment in the catalytic amount can lead to
an increase in the turbidity and scattering effects, causing less
UV light penetration. Also at high concentration, the photo- References
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