A comparative study of antibacterial, anticancer and gas-sensing properties of zinc oxide nanostructures synthesized by different routes

The aim of this work is the synthesis of ZnO nanostructures and to study the effect of synthesis procedure and morphology on gas-sensing, cytotoxicity and antibacterial activity. The zinc oxide nanostructures were synthesized by three different methods: sol-gel (S1), chemical co-precipitation (S2), and microwave heating (S3). X-ray diffraction (XRD), field effective scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Fourier Transform Infraredand spectra (FTIR) UV-Visible spectroscopy were used to conduct detailed comparative research on the structural, morphological, and optical features of the synthesized materials. The X-ray diffraction studies confirms the hexagonal wurtzite structure of all the samples. The results of the FESEM analysis show that the morphology of prepared powders varies with the synthesis method. The absorption percentage of the synthesized samples ranges between 30 and 62%. The change in percentage is primarily due to the change in optical properties with surface morphology. The static method was used to measure the gas-sensing capacity of the synthesized powders, and it was discovered that the synthesized powders have a strong capability of sensing NH3. The biocidal action of the of the compounds in the series has been investigated against few pathogenic bacteria and fungi by disc diffusion method. In addition, the anticancer activity of the compounds was evaluated against various cancer cell lines (A549, HeLa, HepG-2, MCF-7 and HEK 293) and cisplatin was chosen as control. The compound S1 exhibited significant activity against tested four cancer cell lines. The compound S3 showed potent antimicrobial activity, while S1 show significant activity against tested four cancer cell lines. The obtained results were analysed, compared, and discussed using various theories.