Ecofriendly synthesis of ZnO and ZnO-MgO Nanomaterials: photocatalytic, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory study

Abstract

Metal oxide nanomaterials (MO NMs) have recently emerged as innovative materials for environmental and health remediation. The phyto-synthesis of MO NMs is particularly fascinating because of its eco-benign approach and distinctive physicochemical modifications. Therefore, this study aimed to synthesize Echinops kebericho Mesfin tuber extract mediated ZnO and ZnO-MgO NMs and to evaluate their photocatalytic, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory efficacies. The structural and morphological characterizations of synthesized materials were performed through spectroscopic and microscopic approaches. XRD analysis has shown the formation of pristine ZnO NPs and ZnO-MgO nanocomposites (ZM NCs) with wurtzite ZnO and periclase MgO phases. The corresponding crystallinity indices were 91.4% and 94.6%, while crystallite sizes were 10.17 nm and 14.87 nm, respectively. UV-Vis-DRS demonstrated the optical band gaps of 3.14 eV for ZnO and 3.85 eV for ZM. SEM and TEM/HRTEM analyses demonstrated the formations of predominantly spherical aggregates of ZnO NPs and ZM NCs with respective average particle sizes of 10.03 nm and 12.23 nm. The biofabricated MO NMs exhibited the photocatalytic degradation efficiencies of 81.19-98.12% under UV and 71.38-95.80% under visible irradiation. The MO NMs were demonstrated the in vitro antibacterial activities with inhibition zones of 25 ± 0.52 to 33.5 ± 0.48 mm against selected bacterial strains. The anti-inflammatory efficacies of biosynthesized ZnO and ZM were 91.64% and 96.9%, respectively. Overall, the biosynthesized MO NMs have exhibited promising multifunctional activities, with ZM consistently demonstrating enhanced photocatalytic, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory activities.