Facile one step microwave-assisted bioextract-mediated green synthesis of ZnO NPs and subsequent investigation of their antibacterial and photocatalytic activity

The present investigation reports the environmentally benign, cost-effective approach to the fabrication of valuable ZnO NPs. In this green synthesis approach, the isolated extract of the lichen (permelia perleta) plays a pivotal role. A prominent absorption peak is displayed at 320 nm in the recorded UV spectra of the created nanomaterials. XRD analysis of the fabricated nanostructure expressed that the particle size was esteemed to be 30 nm. The SEM micrograph of the developed nanostructure depicted that most of them have spherical shape. Photocatalytic investigation result demonstrates that newly developed nanostructure photocatalyst removes both dye from the water sample effectively under UV light (310 nm) irradiation. The developed ZnO NPs removed acridine orange and eriochrome black-T with the efficiency of 87.8 and 82.3%, respectively, in 90 min of UV (310 nm) irradiation. Furthermore, the newly created nanostructure shows a significant antibacterial activity against tested microorganism. The highest antibacterial potential was exhibited against the E.coli.