Prunus: A natural source for synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles towards photocatalytic and antibacterial applications Uma Singhal a , Ravi Pendurthi b , Manika Khanuja c,⇑ a R&D Dept., Prathista Industries Limited, Choutuppal, Telangana 508252, India b Amity Institute of Nanotechnology, Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India c Centre for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi 110025, India article info Article history: Received 20 January 2020 Accepted 30 January 2020 Available online xxxx Keywords: Green synthesis Fruit extract Photo catalysis Nanoparticles abstract In the present work, green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using fruit (Prunus) extract was reported. Synthesised nanoparticles were further characterized by UV–Vis spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) for morphology, EDAX for compositional analysis, X-Ray diffraction (XRD) for struc- tural information. Antimicrobial activity was studied as a function of ZnO concentration viz. 20, 40, 60 and 80 ppm. Photocatalytic activity of biosynthesized ZnO nanoparticles was demonstrated by the degra- dation of methylene blue (MB) solution. Degradation of hazardous dyes was confirmed by the UV–Vis analysis at different timings. This biosynthesised novel photocatalyst and an antimicrobial agent will be useful for various environmental remedial applications. Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology. 1. Introduction Nanoparticles are increasingly being used in applications rang- ing from environmental pollution to control of human pathogens as these pathogens are gaining drug resistances which often gener- ate intolerable toxicity by enforcement of high-dose administra- tion of antibiotics.. The emergence of human pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant Enterococci and b-lactam-resistant Streptococcus pneumonia, have led the researchers to approach nanotechnology-based therapeutic solutions for a post – antibiotic era [1–3]. Nanomedicines have wide ranging applications such as drug delivery, biosensing and tumour cells elimination. An environmental application of these nanoparticles was shown new prologues for water purification, water filteration and waste water treatment for removal of not only organic dye and pollutant but also non bio-degradable waste having some harmful effect on environment [4–6]. There are a range of techniques like adsorption, micro- filtration, ultrafiltration, ion–exchange used to eliminate and purify the waste water but they lead to the development of some secondary contaminants which are very dangerous than the mother sources. Therefore, nanomaterials have been developed to mineralize organic pollutants such as printing dyes, pigments, textile etc. into environmentally neutral compounds undergoing various chemical reactions at room temperature at relatively a very low cost [7–9]. TiO 2 (Titanium Oxide), ZnO (Zinc Oxide), Cu 2 O (Cuprous Oxide) and WO 3 (Tungsten Oxide) are some of the nanomaterials having high ability to act as catalyst in various types of chemical processes with direct wide-bandgap of 3.3 eV bandgap and 60 meV of exciton binding energy [10–13]. Metal Oxide-based nanoparticles are the most widely used materials exhibiting high photocatalytic and antimicrobial efficiency. Nanoparticles are environmentally benign due to their synthesis techniques (chemical and biological) [14–16] and the precursors used for their synthesis. Biologically synthesized nanoparticles, or bionanoparticles, are as efficient as their chemical counterparts and are more economical to produce. Therefore, now a days researchers are more inclined towards biologically synthe- sized nanomaterials using fruits extracts, leaf of a plant, microor- ganisms etc. to avoid the side effects of chemicals [17,18]. In present study, we report the biological synthesis of ZnO NP using Prunus fruit extract. The fruit was used as a chassis due to its reducing nature and high percentage of biological compounds. Following the biosynthesis of NPs, characterization, photocatalytic efficiency and its effect on the growth of microbial pathogens like https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.01.606 2214-7853/Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Selection and Peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology. ⇑ Corresponding author. Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Materials Today: Proceedings journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matpr Please cite this article as: U. Singhal, R. Pendurthi and M. Khanuja, Prunus: A natural source for synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles towards photocat- alytic and antibacterial applications, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.01.606