Abstract
Water contamination caused by the organic pollutants and microorganism is the serious risk towards the human life and aquatic ecosystem that can be addressed by active and environment-friendly nanoparticles. In current work, Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) have been synthesized first time by utilizing leaves extract of Citrus reticulata via facile, cost effective and ecofriendly green approach. Moreover, the influence of leaves extract concentration on properties of synthesized nanoparticles was also inspected. Various characterization techniques results affirmed that the synthesized ZnO-NPs have hexagonal crystalline structure with size range of 43.05–30.67 nm and band gap of 3.26–3.15 eV. Variation in the leaves extract concentration affected the morphology and optical properties of the green synthesized NPs. Further, the synthesized ZnO-NPs were employed as a photocatalyst for photodegradation of Rhodamine B dye. ZnO-NPs were also employed as antibacterial agent against gram-positive (S. aureus) and gram-negative (E. coli) bacteria where they exhibited appreciable antibacterial activity. Therefore, the novel, facile and green synthesized ZnO-NPs are promising for simultaneous removal of organic pollutants and bacteria from polluted water.
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•Cost effective and eco-friendly fabrication of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) via green approach.•Leaves extract of Citrus reticulata is utilized first ever for the fabrication of ZnO-NPs.•ZnO-NPs was utilized as a photocatalyst to degrade the Rhodamine B dye from polluted water.•ZnO-NPs exhibited an efficient antibacterial application against both gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria.•ZnO-NPs have the potential to remove the pollutants and pathogens from the polluted water.