Livistona jekinsiana fabricated ZnO nanoparticles and their detrimental effect towards anthropogenic organic pollutants and human pathogenic bacteria

Abstract

An environment-friendly and economically sound method was developed to achieve a multi-functional ZnO nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) using water extract of Livistona jekinsiana. The ZnO NPs absorbed maximum wavelength of light at 332 nm in UV–Visible spectroscopy (UV/Vis). X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) pattern revealed the crystallinity of the nanoparticles with the crystallite size around 22.45 nm. The geometry, shape, size, and elemental composition were determined by Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) and Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS). The presence of phytochemicals and the typical zinc-oxygen group in the ZnO NPs was implied by Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Photo luminescence spectroscopy (PL), and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) techniques were also used to characterize and study the different features of ZnO NPs. The multifunctional ZnO NPs showed an efficient photodegradative effect towards the degradation of two anthropogenic dyes, methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB) under solar radiation. The degradation reaction of MO and MB was compliantwithzero-order kinetics and first-order kinetics respectively. Also, Livistona jekinsiana fabricated ZnO NPs showed potential Antibacterial activity against S. aureus, B. subtilis, E. coli and K. pneumonia bacteria and effective antioxidant activity using DPPH scavenging assay. The mechanism of the antibacterial activity was established by estimating the ROS generation and percentage of DNA in K. pneumonia cell. The study illustrated the reducing and stabilizing property of the Livistona jekinsiana extract as a novel source and potential photodegradative and therapeutic effects of the ZnO NPs.