Green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using Aloe Vera plant for investigation of antibacterial properties

Abstract

In this paper, we report the green synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles by using the medicinal plant, <em>Aloe Vera</em>. Characterization of the prepared nanoparticles was carried out by various techniques such as field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), elemental analysis (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis), and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR). The synthesized nanoparticles have the hexagonal wurtzite structure of an average grain size of 17 nm confirmed from X-ray diffraction analysis. Studies of antibacterial activity show that the synthesized ZnO nanoparticles have potential applications in this field. For antibacterial studies, we used <em>Bacillus Subtilis</em> and <em>Staphylococcus Aureus</em> as the gram-positive and <em>Escherichia Coli</em> and <em>Salmonella Typhi</em> as the gram-negative bacteria.