Phyco-Fabricated Zinc Oxide Nanorods From Dictyota dichotoma Seaweed: A Promising Resource for Environmental and Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Nanorods (NRs) have extensive applicability across all scientific disciplines due to their distinctive size, varied shape, and elevated surface-to-volume ratio, which confer distinctive advantages. Nanorod substances are capable of solving nearly any difficulty in sciences. The advancement of nanotechnologies has led to the emergence of metallic or metal oxide nanoparticles as potentially exciting resources. The unique features of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanorods make them very promising for a variety of tasks, such as gas detectors, diodes with light emission, solar panels, biological medicine, and solar energy generation. This investigation used biologically active substances from Dictyota dichotoma extracts to fabricate and encapsulate ZnO NRs, using zinc acetate dihydrate as the precursor. The novel bio-fabricated ZnO NRs have been tested for structural stability and optical variations using UV–Vis spectroscopy, FT-IR, XRD, FE-SEM, and EDX. Regarding Gram-positive, Gram-negative, and fungal strains, ZnO NRs have shown exceptional germicidal effectiveness. The MTT assay demonstrated the significant apoptotic efficacy of ZnO NRs against the HeLa cancer cell line. The ZnO NRs could eliminate around 90% of the photodecomposition against azo dye. The findings indicate that sustainably fabricated ZnO NRs have significant potential for employing in several fields, including germicidal, apoptotic, and photodecomposition capabilities.