Synthesis and characterization ZnO nanoparticles using sol-gel method and their antibacterial study

Abstract

Zinc oxide nanoparticles were prepared using the sol-gel method. Zinc is one of the most important elements in living organisms and similarly zinc derived compounds have attracted much attention because of their applications in various fields like agricultural, medicinal, industrial, etc. These nanoparticles have piezoelectric, semiconducting, photocatalytic activities, and very high surface area. Also, they possess the unique property of being biodegradable and biocompatible. To synthesize the pure ZnO nanoparticles, zinc nitrate hexahydrate [Zn(NO3)2.6H20] is used as the precursor. Sol-gel can be done either in an aqueous or non-aqueous medium. But in this work, the ZnO nanoparticles are prepared in the aqueous medium (i.e in water) at room temperature. The prepared zinc oxide nanoparticles are characterized using X-ray diffraction to determine their crystallinity and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is used to study the morphology of the sample.