Novel Biomimatic Synthesis of ZnO Nanorods Using Egg White (Albumen) and Their Antibacterial Studies

Abstract

Zinc oxide (ZnO) is well-recognized as a biocompatible multifunctional material with outstanding properties as well as low toxicity and biodegradability. In this work, a simple and versatile technique was developed to prepare highly crystalline ZnO nanorods by introducing egg white to a bio-inspired approach. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern results indicated that the ZnO nanorods have single phase nature with the wurtzite structure. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) results showed the nanometer dimension of the nanorods. Raman, FTIR, and TGA/DTA analyses revealed the formation of wurtzite ZnO. The antibacterial properties of ZnO nanorods were investigated using both Gram-positive and Gram-negative microorganisms. These studies demonstrate that ZnO nanorods have a wide range of antibacterial activities toward various microorganisms that are commonly found in environmental settings. Survival ratio of bacteria decreased with increasing powder concentration, i.e., increase in antibacterial activity. The antibacterial activity of the ZnO nanorods toward Pseudomonas aeruginosa was stronger than that of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Surprisingly, the antibacterial activity did not require specific UV activation using artificial lamps, rather activation was achieved under ambient lighting conditions. Overall, the experimental results suggest that ZnO nanorods could be developed as antibacterial agents against a wide range of microorganisms to control and prevent the spreading and persistence of bacterial infections. This research introduces a new concept to synthesize ZnO nanorods by using egg white as a biological template for various applications including food science, animal science, biochemistry, microbiology and medicine.

Antibacterial Application on Staphylococcus aureus Using Antibiotic Agent/Zinc Oxide Nanorod Arrays/Polyethylethylketone Composite Samples

“…Zinc oxide (ZnO) is a traditional metal oxide that is non-toxic with a high melting point, good thermal stability,, low manufacturing costs, and good antibacterial property [6,7,8]. Various methods such as chemical vapor deposition [9], magnetic sputtering [10], hydrothermal reaction [11], and the template method [12] have been employed for the preparation of metal oxide thin films such as ZnO or TiO 2 with 2D microstructures for the applications of optical-electronic devices [12], catalysts [6], photo-active layers in the solar cells [5], and the improvement of the sample’s antibacterial properties [13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23]. Ipeksac et al [14] prepared the hydrothermal synthesized ZnO nanotubes in solution bath at a low temperature with the ZnO seeds coated onto the nickel filter.…”

“…Because the good antibacterial performances of ZnO samples were reported in the literature, the ZnO sample may have good application in the treatment of complex musculoskeletal wounds. Then, we examined reports about the mechanisms of the antibacterial properties for ZnO samples in the literature [23,24,25,26,27,28]. The antibacterial property of ZnO sample is due to (a) the formation of reactive oxygen spices (ROS) such as OH − or O 2 2− ions at the basic solution [26,28], (b) the release of Zn 2+ ions from the ZnO samples [24,28], and/or (c) the ROS ions generated under light irradiation [25].…”

A Highly-Sensitive Picric Acid Chemical Sensor Based on ZnO Nanopeanuts

“…It has been reported that Zn 2+ ions combine with and HO − ions to form and growth units in the reaction medium [ 46 , 47 ]. The detailed growth mechanism for ZnO nanopeanuts has been elaborated elsewhere [ 47 ].…”

An insight on egg white: From most common functional food to biomaterial application

“…Using simple and versatile technology to add egg white to highly crystalline ZnO nanorods is a biologically inspired method. This research introduces a new concept for synthesizing ZnO nanorods with egg white as a biological template, and this concept can be used in various applications, such as food science, animal science, biochemistry, microbiology and medicine 81 . Single‐phase nano‐sized ferrite Ni 0.8‐x Cu 0.2 Zn x Fe 2 O 4 with x = 0.1–0.7, was prepared using egg white as a precursor, and X‐ray diffraction (XRD) confirmed the cubic spinel structure of the calcined sample at 550°C.…”