Fabrication, Characterization and In Vitro Antifungal Property Evaluation of Biocompatible Lignin-Stabilized Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Against Selected Pathogenic Fungal Strains

The present work aims to develop photoresponsive nanoparticle incorporated biomacromolecular aggregates with excellent optical and antimicrobial properties by the apt combination of zinc oxide nanoparticles with lignin, a macromolecular binding system. The biopolymer lignin-stabilized zinc oxide nanoparticles were fabricated by a cost-effective chemical precipitation route. The synthesized ZONPs and lignin-stabilized ZONPs were characterized by UV-visible, FT-IR and fluorescence spectrophotometric techniques, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. The antifungal efficacy evaluation of the developed ZONP encapsulated lignin aggregates was done against selected pathogenic fungal strains. The study established the use of ZONPs encapsulated in water-soluble and biocompatible macro matrix lignin as an effective antifungal agent in order to improve the antimicrobial performance in biomedical and environmental applications.