Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Applied Nanoscience https://doi.org/10.1007/s13204-019-01188-x ORIGINAL ARTICLE Enhanced bactericidal action and dye degradation of spicy roots’ extract‑incorporated fne‑tuned metal oxide nanoparticles A. Haider 1  · M. Ijaz 1  · M. Imran 2  · M. Naz 3  · H. Majeed 4  · J. A. Khan 1  · M. M. Ali 5  · M. Ikram 6 Received: 24 August 2019 / Accepted: 3 October 2019 © King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology 2019 Abstract Nanoparticles fabricated with biological reducing agents to minimize toxic efects of chemicals are being focused worldwide. Biologically synthesized metal oxide nanomaterials have become integral part of nanotechnology. The current work is provid- ing an insight on ZnO nanoparticles having root extract of Z. ofcinale and A. sativum in terms of catalytic and antimicrobial action potential. The synthesized nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray Difraction (XRD), Fourier-Transform Infra- red Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Ultra-Violet visible spectroscopy (UV–vis), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) analysis. The synthesized nanoparticles showed strong absorption at 365 nm with size range between 31.64 and 44 nm for Z. ofcinale and 28–45 nm in case of A. sativum-doped ZnO as revealed by UV–vis and XRD. The Z. ofcinale-doped nano- particles demonstrated enhanced antibacterial activity against multiple drug-resistant S. aureus at increasing concentrations (0.5, 1.0 mg/50 µl) and also actively degraded methylene blue (MB) dye. ZnO nanoparticles synthesized by green approach have potential to resolve emerging drug resistance against pathogenic bacterial diseases. Conclusively, signifcant inhibition zones resulted against (MDR) S. aureus ranging 1.80–2.25 mm and 2.3–3 mm at low and high concentrations for Z. ofcinale while, 1.7–2.05 mm and 2.2–2.7 mm for A. sativum-doped ZnO-NPs. Keywords Metal oxide · Particle size · Diseases · Antimicrobial · Nanomaterials Introduction Nano-materials as “wonder of modern medicine” having unique properties of great reaction activity and large surface area attained much attention (El-Refai et al. 2018; Yan et al. 2012). These nano-materials with size range (1–100 nm) have higher ability to kill etiological pathogens of various diseases up to 650 cells relative to antibiotics which kill half dozen (Janaki et al. 2015). Small nanoparticles (NPs) have size dimensions around atomic level providing large surface-to-volume ratios causing changes in physical and chemical properties as mechanical, biological, melting point, catalytic activity, thermal and electrical conductivities and optical absorption compared to bulk chemical composition (Yedurkar et al. 2016). Stable antibacterial agents are com- posed of inorganic materials at high pressures/temperatures to endure harsh processing conditions relative to organic ones and are considered safe for animals and human (Sawai 2003; Jacob et al. 2014). Commonly, inorganic materials like Ag, Au, Cu, CuO, ZnO and TiO 2 attained signifcant antibacterial efcacy; among * M. Ijaz mijaz@uvas.edu.pk * M. Ikram dr.muhammadikram@gcu.edu.pk 1 Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore 54000, Punjab, Pakistan 2 State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Beijing Advanced Innovation Centre for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing Engineering Center for Hierarchical Catalysts, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China 3 Department of Chemistry, Government College University, Lahore 54000, Punjab, Pakistan 4 Department of Food Sciences, Cholistan University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Near DHA663100, Bahawalpur, Pakistan 5 Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore 54000, Punjab, Pakistan 6 Solar Cell Applications Research Lab, Department of Physics, Government College University, Lahore 54000, Punjab, Pakistan