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. 2019 Jun 5;9(1):8303.
doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-44309-w.

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

Mina Zare  1 , Keerthiraj Namratha  1   2 , Saad Alghamdi  3 , Yasser Hussein Eissa Mohammad  4 , Abdo Hezam  1 , Mohamad Zare  5 , Qasem Ahmed Drmosh  6 , Kullaiah Byrappa  7   8 , Bananakere Nanjegowda Chandrashekar  9   10 , Seeram Ramakrishna  11 , Xiang Zhang  12
Affiliations

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

Mina Zare et al. Sci Rep. .

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.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The typical TIC-GC/MS chromatograms of T. vulgaris leaf extract.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(a) XRD patterns of ZnO-Ag NCs, ZnO NPs and Ag NPs, (b) FTIR spectra of ZnO NPs ZnO-Ag NCs and T. vulgaris leaf extract.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) HRTEM image display lattice fringes of both Ag and ZnO, (b) SAED pattern of ZnO-Ag NCs is inset of TEM image, (c) EDX spectrum of ZnO-Ag NCs.
Figure 4
Figure 4
UV–Vis absorption spectrum of ZnO-Ag NCs and bulk ZnO.
Figure 5
Figure 5
XPS analysis of ZnO-Ag NC sample. (a) XPS survey spectrum, and the core level XPS analysis of (b) Zn2p, (c) O1s, and (d) Ag3d.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Effect of different concentrations of Ag–ZnO NCs on growth of (a) E. coli, (b) S. aureus and (c) growth of bacterial colonies on agar plates, (d) Inhibition Zone of ZnO-Ag NCs, ZnO NPS and Gentamicin.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Percentage DPPH radical scavenging activity of ZnO-Ag NCs, ZnO NPs, and Ascorbic acid.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Percentage haemolysis of synthesized ZnO-Ag NCs, ZnO NPs and ZnO bulk.
Figure 9
Figure 9
(a) Degradation curves. (b) Degradation kinetics of ZnO-Ag NCs, ZnO NPs, ZnO Bulk and TiO2-P25 under sunlight irradiation (catalyst amount = 60 mg, phenol initial concentration = 20 mg/L). (c) The impact of initial amount of phenol on photocatalytic activity. (d) The impact of photocatalyst dose on the elimination efficacy of phenol. (e) Cycling times of the photodegrading phenol applying ZnO-Ag NCs catalyst. (f) XRD patterns of ZnO-Ag NCs after and before 4 repetition.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Schematic diagram showing the proposed photocatalytic mechanism of the Ag–ZnO NCs.
Figure 11
Figure 11
The proposed mechanism of ZnO-Ag NCs synthesis NCs.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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