Facile green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles by Eucalyptus globulus and their photocatalytic and antioxidant activity

• Published in: Advanced powder technology : the international journal of the Society of Powder Technology, Japan Japan, 2017-03, Vol.28 (3), p.785-797
• Main Authors: Siripireddy, Balaji, Mandal, Badal Kumar
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: DPPH; Eucalyptus globulus; Photocatalytic and antioxidant activity; ZnO NPs
• ISSN: 0921-8831; 1568-5527
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apt.2016.11.026

This is the first report on Eucalyptus globulus extract mediated synthesis of spherical and crystalline ZnO NPs with hexagonal wurtzite structure. The ZnO NPs exhibited efficient photocatalytic activity in degrading Methylene blue and Methyl Orange dyes under UV light exposure and exhibited high antioxidant activity against DPPH molecule compared to ascorbic acid as standard reference material. [Display omitted] •Facile eco-friendly green method to synthesize spherical shaped ZnO NPs.•First report on synthesis of ZnO NPs using Eucalyptus globulus extract.•Effective photocatalytic activity against methylene blue and methyl orange.•High antioxidant activity to DPPH scavenger activity. Eucalyptus globulus leaf extract mediated synthesis of spherical zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) was carried out under ambient conditions. UV–Visible studies of the synthesized nanoparticles revealed the characteristic peak at 361nm indicating the formation of ZnO nanoparticles. Powder X-ray Diffractometric (XRD) study showed the strong, intense and narrow-width diffraction peaks indicating the formation of crystalline nanoparticles with most stable hexagonal phase. Field emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) and high resolution-transmission electron microscopic (HR-TEM) results confirmed the formation of spherical ZnO NPs with mean particle size of 11.6nm which is in close agreement with XRD pattern. Further, energy dispersive X-ray diffraction analysis (EDAX) revealed the formation of highly pure ZnO NPs with the peaks of Zn and O atoms. ZnO NPs exhibited effective photocatalytic activity in degrading Methylene blue and Methyl orange with maximum degradation efficiency up to 98.3% at 30mg of catalyst doses. In addition, ZnO NPs exhibited high antioxidant activity against DPPH free radicals scavenger.