Facile synthesis and characterization of zinc oxide nanoparticles and studies of their catalytic activity towards ultrasound-assisted degradation of metronidazole

• Synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles by chemical precipitation cum hydrothermal heating.
• The XRD pattern shows hexagonal ZnO with average crystallite size 22 nm.
• TEM image showed quasi-cylindrical shape having diameters 20–50 nm.
• Particles showed significant catalytic activity in degradation of metronidazole.

A novel and facile approach for synthesis of zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles (NPs) employing homogeneous chemical precipitation followed by hydrothermal heating technique is reported. The present method of synthesis of ZnO NPs is very efficient and cost effective. As-synthesized ZnO NPs were characterized by XRD, FT-IR, EDX, TEM, and N2 adsorption–desorption (BET) studies. The powder XRD pattern furnished evidence for the formation of hexagonal close packing structure of ZnO NPs having average crystallite size 21.93 nm. The shapes of synthesized ZnO NPs are mostly quasi-cylindrical with sizes 20–50 nm. These ZnO NPs were used as catalysts for the degradation of a pharmaceuticals waste, metronidazole under ultrasound irradiation.