Antibacterial activity of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) has received significant interest worldwide particularly by the implementation of nanotechnology to synthesize particles in the nanometer region. Many microorganisms exist in the range from hundreds of nanometers to tens of micrometers. ZnO-NPs exhibit attractive antibacterial properties due to increased specific surface area as the reduced particle size leading to enhanced particle surface reactivity. ZnO is a bio-safe material that possesses photo-oxidizing and photocatalysis impacts on chemical and biological species. This review covered ZnO-NPs antibacterial activity including testing methods, impact of UV illumination, ZnO particle properties (size, concentration, morphology, and defects), particle surface modification, and minimum inhibitory concentration. Particular emphasize was given to bactericidal and bacteriostatic mechanisms with focus on generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) including hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), OH− (hydroxyl radicals), and O2 −2 (peroxide). ROS has been a major factor for several mechanisms including cell wall damage due to ZnO-localized interaction, enhanced membrane permeability, internalization of NPs due to loss of proton motive force and uptake of toxic dissolved zinc ions. These have led to mitochondria weakness, intracellular outflow, and release in gene expression of oxidative stress which caused eventual cell growth inhibition and cell death. In some cases, enhanced antibacterial activity can be attributed to surface defects on ZnO abrasive surface texture. One functional application of the ZnO antibacterial bioactivity was discussed in food packaging industry where ZnO-NPs are used as an antibacterial agent toward foodborne diseases. Proper incorporation of ZnO-NPs into packaging materials can cause interaction with foodborne pathogens, thereby releasing NPs onto food surface where they come in contact with bad bacteria and cause the bacterial death and/or inhibition.

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Titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) materials have been the focus of many promising applications due to their low-cost, availability and biocompatible properties. In this study, mesoporous anatase TiO 2 nanoparticles were synthesised using a green chemistry approach. This visible-light active photocatalyst was prepared via a simple and solvent free precipitation method at low temperatures using titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) as a precursor and soluble starch as the template. The effect of initial solution pH and concentration of TTIP on surface morphology and photocatalytic activities of TiO 2 nanoparticles were evaluated. Based on the results obtained, the TiO 2 nanocatalyst prepared using 0.01 mol of TTIP under basic conditions revealed the best photocatalytic activity. The as-synthesised nanoparticles were further characterised using X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and nitrogen adsorption analysis (NAA). The XRD spectrum confirmed that the catalyst was composed of anatase tetragonal TiO 2 phase. The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) surface area of 81.59 m 2 g À1 proved the presence of mesopores (average pore size ¼ 8.7 nm) which partially contributed to and catalysed the photodegradation process of methylene blue (MB) solution under sunlight. The effects of various parameters such as initial dye concentration, catalyst dosage and recyclability of the catalyst were evaluated to determine the best conditions. Results obtained suggest that TiO 2 nanoparticles synthesised through the green chemistry approach under optimum conditions exhibited an effective photodegradation process of MB solution under sunlight.

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Organic pollutants such as dyes, antibiotics, analgesics, herbicides, pesticides, and stimulants become major sources of water pollution. Several treatments such as absorptions, coagulation, filtration, and oxidations were introduced and experimentally carried out to overcome these problems. Nowadays, an advanced technique by photocatalytic degradation attracts the attention of most researchers due to its interesting and promising mechanism that allows spontaneous and non-spontaneous reactions as they utilized light energy to initiate the reaction. However, only a few numbers of photocatalysts reported were able to completely degrade organic pollutants. In the past decade, the number of preparation techniques of photocatalyst such as doping, morphology manipulation, metal loading, and coupling heterojunction were studied and tested. Thus, in this paper, we reviewed details on the fundamentals, common photocatalyst preparation for coupling heterojunction, morphological effect, and photocatalyst’s characterization techniques. The important variables such as catalyst dosage, pH, and initial concentration of sample pollution, irradiation time by light, temperature system, durability, and stability of the catalyst that potentially affect the efficiency of the process were also discussed. Overall, this paper offers an in-depth perspective of photocatalytic degradation of sample pollutions and its future direction.

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