A review on green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles - An eco-friendly approach

Nanotechnology deals with the production and usage of material with nanoscale dimension. Nanoscale dimension provides nanoparticles a large surface area to volume ratio and thus very specific properties. Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) had been in recent studies due to its large bandwidth and high exciton binding energy and it has potential applications like antibacterial, antifungal, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, wound healing, antioxidant and optic properties. Due to the large rate of toxic chemicals and extreme environment employed in the physical and chemical production of these NPs, green methods employing the use of plants, fungus, bacteria, and algae have been adopted. This review is a comprehensive study of the synthesis and characterization methods used for the green synthesis of ZnO NPs using different biological sources.