Green Synthesis of ZnO Nanostructures Using Pyrus pyrifolia: Antimicrobial, Photocatalytic and Dielectric Properties

In this study, zinc oxide nanostructures (ZnO NS) were synthesized using Pyrus pyrifolia fruit extract. Biophysical characterization results confirmed that the synthesized materials are crystalline wurtzite ZnO structures. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) revealed that the ZnO NS are cubical, and the sizes range 20–80 nm. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and XRD results revealed a crystal lattice spacing of 0.23 nm and (101) the crystalline plane on ZnO NS. UV-Visible spectrophotometer results showed an absorbance peak at 373 nm. The ZnO NS demonstrated significant antibacterial activity analyzed by metabolic activity analysis and disc diffusion assay against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. FESEM analysis confirmed the bacterial membrane disruption and the release of cytoplasmic contents was studied by electron microscopy analysis. Further, ZnO NS achieved good photocatalytic activity of decolorizing 88% of methylene blue (MB) in 60 min. The dielectric constant and loss of ZnO were found to be 3.19 and 2.80 at 1 kHz, respectively. The research findings from this study could offer new insights for developing potential antibacterial and photocatalytic materials.