Green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles via Zingiber officinale/PEG biopolymer blend matrix: Optimization, physicochemical characterization, antioxidant and photocatalytic activity

Abstract

There is increasing interest in research on natural antioxidant structures that can be synthesized from plants and scavenge free radicals. This study aimed to successfully synthesize ZnO NPs with Zingiber officinale (ZO) extract using ultrasound-assisted plant-mediated synthesis known as the eco-friendly synthesis method. ZnO NPs were synthesized in the plant extract (ZO) and biopolymeric (polyethylene glycol, PEG) blend matrix by optimizing the parameters of volumetric ratio, PEG amount, sonication process amplitude, and process time. The final solutions were characterized by UV–Vis for optimization. The ZnO NPs were characterized by methods such as TEM, XRD, FTIR, and SEM, and additionally, their antioxidant properties were investigated using butylhydroxytoluene and ascorbic acid as standard solutions, and their photocatalytic activities against MB and RhB dyes were investigated. Most of the nano-sized particles exhibit a spherical morphology, the average size of the ZnO NPs is 22.17 nm and has a hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure. The antioxidant activity of ZnO NPs was evaluated as 72 % and increased with increasing concentration. ZnO NPs have acceptable antioxidant activity. It was found that NPs exhibited more active degradation against MB, and the degradation increased with increasing time. These results indicate that the ultrasound-assisted plant-mediated synthesized ZnO NPs exhibit high antioxidant activity, as demonstrated by an IC50 value of 0.0423 M, positioning them as viable candidates for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications.