Antibacterial, antioxidant and photodegradation potential of ZnO nanoparticles mediated via roots of Taraxacum officinale radix

Abstract

Nanomaterials are in high demand due to their potential in biomedical applications. This research work accounts to synthesize ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) utilizing the green method using an extract of roots of Taraxacum officinale radix. To investigate the nanoparticles various techniques viz; UV–Vis spectrophotometer, FTIR, Energy dispersive X-Ray spectroscopy (EDX), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), (XRD) X-ray diffraction, Zeta potential analyzer were used. An absorption peak value at 365 nm in the UV–Vis spectrum suggested the formation of ZnO NPs. FTIR identifies phytoconstituents that act as a capping or reducing agent. The XRD analysis confirmed that ZnO-NPs are hexagonal crystalline in nature, with miller indices (h, k, l) of (1,0,0), (0,0,2), (1,0,1), (1,0,2), (1,0,3), (2,0,0), (2,0,1), (2,0,0), (2,0,1). (1,0,4). Additionally, morphological examinations using TEM and SEM revealed that the integrated particles were spherical (23.35 nm), and EDX analysis proves that the NPs are predominantly composed of Zinc and Oxygen (88.2%,3 keV). The zeta potential indicates that these nanoparticles are quite stable. ZnO-NPs were evaluated for their antibacterial activity against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Streptococcus pneumoniae respectively. According to the findings, ZnO-NPs could be developed as an antibacterial agent that is highly specific for a broad range of microorganisms in order to prevent bacterial contamination. Additionally, these ZnO -NPs acted as a catalyst in the degradation of the dyes methylene blue, rose bengal, and acridine orange. Further, the antioxidant activity of ZnO-NPs was estimated utilizing the 2,2 diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl hydrate (DPPH) radical scavenging method and the IC50 value of 127.75 µg/ ml was calculated for ZnO-NPs. In general, ZnO-NPs in their produced state promise a bright future in biomedical and wastewater treatment applications.