Auto combustion synthesis of ZnO for degradation of organic dye under natural solar light with bactericidal activity

Abstract

• ZnO nanoparticles synthesized by facile autocombustion method. • ZnO nanoparticles efficiently degrade Methylene Blue dye under sunlight irradiation. • ZnO nanoparticles exhibit significant anti-bacterial activity for gram-negative and gram-positive bacterial strains. • Mechanism of photocatalysis was studied. Here we report synthesis of natural sunlight active zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles by facile solution auto combustion method using citric acid as a fuel. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDAX), Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and UV–Visible spectrophotometric analysis (UV–Vis) were used for study of the structural and optical characteristics of prepared nanoparticles. The breakdown of methylene blue (MB) dye in the presence of sunlight was used evaluating photodegradation activity. The maximum degradation of 98 percent was obtained after 45 min of irradiation by sunlight in basic pH of the MB. Furthermore, the antimicrobial properties were inspected against bacterial pathogens that infect humans, such as gram-negative P. vulgaris , E. coli and gram-positive K. pneumonia, S. aureus by well diffusion method.