Synthesis Characterization and Applications of Zinc Copper and Silver Nanoparticles A green approach

Abstract

newline With the empowerment of the nanomaterial in the field of science and industries, due to their innovative potential over the bulky material, the ideas of obtaining the nano range materials are getting more and more attention. The physical and chemical approaches of the synthesis of nanoparticles (NPs) are very common. However, these methods involve high energy consumption and require hazardous chemicals. Consequently, a newly developed green approach of synthesis of NPs, which provides an eco-friendly, economical, and fast method is fascinating the researchers now a day. With this approach, in the present study, we have used the aloe-vera and tulsi plant extracts as the reducing and stabilizing agents during the synthesis of ZnO, CuO, and Ag/AgO NPs. These NPs were synthesized with 5, 10, and 50 mmoland#8729;kgand#8722;1 of the metal salt concentration at 70 oC for a time duration of 4 hours refluxing under constant stirring. The reduction of the precursor metal salt has been observed by a color change of the reaction mixture and examined by the UV-visible spectroscopic technique. Further, the synthesized samples were characterized under various techniques viz. X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The XRD technique is used to study the crystalline nature of the material. The SEM along with EDS has employed to examine the morphological arrangement and elemental composition of the synthesized samples. The TEM observations are fully consistent with the SEM investigations in terms of morphologies and dimensionalities of the samples. The TEM micrographs suggest the hexagonal, monoclinic, and cubic/monoclinic phase of well crystalline ZnO, CuO, and Ag/AgO NPs, respectively. The SEM images exhibit that the as-synthesized ZnO, CuO, and Ag/AgO material possess spherical/hexagonal/cuboidal, wheat/rice grain, and spherical shaped morphologies, respectively.