Citrus maxima (Pomelo) juice mediated eco-friendly synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles: Applications to photocatalytic, electrochemical sensor and antibacterial activities

Publication date: 5 October 2017
Source:Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Volume 185
Author(s): N.S. Pavithra, K. Lingaraju, G.K. Raghu, G. Nagaraju
In the present work, Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO Nps) have been successfully prepared through a simple, effective and low cost solution combustion method using Zn (NO3)2·6H2O as an oxidizer, chakkota (Common name=Pomelo) fruit juice as novel fuel. X-ray diffraction pattern indicates the hexagonal wurtzite structure with average crystallite size of ~22nm. ZnO Nps were characterized with the aid of different spectroscopic techniques such as Raman spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy, Photoluminescence and UV–Visible spectroscopy. FTIR shows characteristic ZnO vibrational mode at 393cm⁻¹. SEM images show that the particles are agglomerated. TEM image shows the size of the particles are about 10–20nm. Further, in order to establish practical applicability of the synthesized ZnO Nps, photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) dye as a model system was studied in presence of UV (665nm) light. In addition to this, the antibacterial activity was screen against 3 bacterial strains and electrochemical sensor performance towards the quantification of dopamine at nano molar concentrations was also explored.

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