Green synthesis of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles from Ocimum tenuiflorum L. Leaves and its Antimicrobial activity

Green synthesis of Nanoparticles is an important area in the field of Nanotechnology, which has cost effective and environment friendly benefit over physical and chemical methods. Nanoparticles exhibit distinct features compared to traditional physico-chemical synthesis and they have many applications in a wide range of fields of life sciences such as surface coating agents, catalysts, food packaging, corrosion protection, environmental remediation, electronics, biomedical and antimicrobial. Green-synthesized metal Nanoparticles, mainly from plant sources, have gained a lot of attention due to their intrinsic characteristics like eco-friendliness, rapidity and cost-effectiveness. In this study, green synthesis of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles from leaves extract of Ocimum tenuiflorum L. The prepared Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) method. The crystalline structure of the Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles was determined by X-ray diffractometer and to identify the functional groups and chemical bond present in the green synthesized Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles were studied using FT-IR. The average particle crystalline size, is calculated as 18 nm by using Scherrer’s formula. Then, Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles were tested for antimicrobial activity against E. coli, Streptococcus sp. and Kappa casein pathogenic microorganism’s strains at concentrations of 100μl, 250μl, 500μl, and 1000μl. The E. coli shows highest inhibition zone of 3.4mm in 500μl concentration, while, the zone of inhibition was observed less for Kappa casein is 1 mm in 100μl concentration. The antimicrobial study revealed that Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles confirmed an excellent zone of inhibition against pathogenic microorganisms. Through the findings of this study, it has been shown that Ocimum tenuiflorum L. leaves extract can be used in a green synthesis approach to prepare Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles, which can be employed as alternatives to antibiotics and a tool to eliminate drug-resistant microbes in the future.