Novel Green Biomimetic Approach for Synthesis of ZnO-Ag Nanocomposite; Antimicrobial Activity against Food-borne Pathogen, Biocompatibility and Solar Photocatalysis

Mina Zare, Keerthiraj Namratha, Saad Alghamdi, Yasser Hussein Eissa Mohammad, Abdo Hezam, Mohamad Zare, Qasem Ahmed Drmosh, Kullaiah Byrappa*, Bananakere Nanjegowda Chandrashekar, Seeram Ramakrishna, Xiang Zhang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

166 Scopus citations

Abstract

A simple, eco-friendly, and biomimetic approach using Thymus vulgaris (T. vulgaris) leaf extract was developed for the formation of ZnO-Ag nanocomposites (NCs) without employing any stabilizer and a chemical surfactant. T. vulgaris leaf extract was used for the first time, in a novel approach, for green fabrication of ZnO-Ag NCs as a size based reducing agent via the hydrothermal method in a single step. Presence of phenols in T. vulgaris leaf extract has served as both reducing and capping agents that play a critical role in the production of ZnO-Ag NCs. The effect of silver nitrate concentration in the formation of ZnO-Ag NCs was studied. The in-vitro Antimicrobial activity of NCs displayed high antimicrobial potency on selective gram negative and positive foodborne pathogens. Antioxidant activity of ZnO-Ag NCs was evaluated via (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) DPPH method. Photocatalytic performance of ZnO-Ag NCs was appraised by degradation of phenol under natural sunlight, which exhibited efficient photocatalytic activity on phenol. Cytotoxicity of the NCs was evaluated using the haemolysis assay. Results of this study reveal that T. vulgaris leaf extract, containing phytochemicals, possess reducing property for ZnO-Ag NCs fabrication and the obtained ZnO-Ag NCs could be employed effectively for biological applications in food science. Therefore, the present study offers a promising way to achieve high-efficiency photocatalysis based on the hybrid structure of semiconductor/metal.

Original languageEnglish
Article number8303
JournalScientific Reports
Volume9
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Dec 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, The Author(s).

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Novel Green Biomimetic Approach for Synthesis of ZnO-Ag Nanocomposite; Antimicrobial Activity against Food-borne Pathogen, Biocompatibility and Solar Photocatalysis'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this