ZnO Nanoparticles Synthesized by Precipitation Method for Solar-Driven Photodegradation of Methylene Blue Dye and Its Potential as an Anticancer Agent

This work presents the study on the synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) and their photocatalytic and anticancer activity. ZnO NPs were synthesized by a simple precipitation method in the presence of anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS). Two different zinc precursors were used, namely, zinc acetate dihydrate and zinc nitrate hexahydrate, and sodium hydroxide was used as a precipitating agent. The synthesized samples were characterized by various techniques for invesgating their structural, optical, and morphological properties. Identical wurtzite hexagonal structure was confirmed for the samples from XRD pattern and the Raman spectroscopy. As determined by the HR-TEM analysis, the samples’ typical particle size is in the nanoscale. The optical band gap of ZnO NPs, as estimated from UV–VIS absorption spectra, is 2.607 eV for acetate precursor and 2.915 eV for nitrate precursor. The defect concentration in the samples has been probed using PL analysis. The photocatalytic activity of synthesized NPs was studied for organic dye (methylene blue — MB) in an aqueous medium and was compared to that of commercial photocatalyst TiO2 NPs. The potential of synthesized NPs as an anticancer agent was also investigated.