Synthesis and Characterization of ZnO Nanoparticles using Moringa Oleifera Leaf Extract: Investigation of Photocatalytic and Antibacterial Activity

In this paper, we report the synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles using Moringa Oleifera (Drumstick) leaves as natural precursor via precipitation method. Formation and characterization of ZnO nanoparticles was established by UV-VIS spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The synthesized nanoparticles have hexagonal wurtzite structure of an average grain size of 52 nm confirmed from X-ray diffraction analysis. The synthesized ZnO nanoparticles have been employed as photocatalytic agent to degrade the organic dye viz. Titan yellow under visible light by exposing the visible light for one hour. ZnO nanoparticles degraded almost 96% of titan yellow dye. We also studied the antibacterial activity and it was found that the synthesized ZnO nanoparticles have potential applications in antibacterial activity. For antibacterial studies we used Bacillus subtilis as a gram positive and Escherichia coli as gram negative bacteria.