Abstract
The present study was emphasized to investigate the photocatalytic degradation of malachite green (MG) and antibacterial activity of zirconium oxide nanoparticles synthesized from Annona reticulata leaf extract (AR-ZrO(2)NPs). The biologically synthesized AR-ZrO(2)NPs were characterized by UV-visible spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM). The UV-visible spectrum of AR-ZrO(2)NPs showed a characteristic surface plasmon resonance (SPR) peak at 256 nm. The XRD analysis exhibited that the AR-ZrO(2)NPs were crystalline in nature. FT-IR revealed that the AR leaf extract has stabilized with the nanoparticles by a capping agent. In addition, electron microscopic results revealed that the AR-ZrO(2)NPs were spherical in shape and found to be 13-20 nm range in size. The biologically produced AR-ZrO(2)NPs have antibacterial action against Salmonella enterica serotype typhi, which is multi-drug-resistant. Furthermore, AR-ZrO(2)NPs demonstrated exceptional degrading efficiency for MG, with about 87.4% elimination in 150 min of sunshine irradiation. As a result, this research concludes that AR leaf extract is a possible green resource for AR-ZrO(2)NPs synthesis with multi-potential applications.