SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ZINC OXIDE NANOPARTICLES USING AQUEOUS EXTRACT OF Illicium verum AND ITS ANTIMICROBIAL APPLICATION

The study mainly focuses on the preparation and characterization of Zinc oxide nanoparticles using an aqueous fruit extract of Illicium verum. Zinc Oxide nanoparticles were synthesized by a biological method using the fruit extract of Illicium verum using Zinc acetate dehydrate in the presence of Sodium hydroxide. The synthesized Zinc Oxide nanoparticles were characterized using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). Further applications of its antimicrobial activity were studied. SEM results reveal that the shape of Zinc oxide nanoparticles was spherical and the average size ranges from 20-40 nm. EDX analysis provides the elemental composition of Zinc and oxygen present in the ZnO nanoparticles. The weight percentage of Zinc and oxygen was found to be 62.59 and 37.41 respectively. Chemical bond formations were confirmed by using FTIR analysis. The antibacterial activity was performed against gram negative (Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia) and gram positive (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilus) bacteria. Finally, the study concluded that can be used for the synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles in a simple, cost effective and also the zinc oxide nanoparticles demonstrated riveting antimicrobial activity with both gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria.