Synthesis of ZnO and ZnO/PVA nanocomposite using aqueous Moringa Oleifeira leaf extract template: antibacterial and electrochemical activities

The application of flexible polymer nanocomposites for food packaging to inactivate microorganisms associated with foods is the demand of the present-day food industry to assure quality throughout the packaging operation. The utilization of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) assisted zinc oxide nanocomposite for food stuff packaging has been very attractive in the recent past. Nanostructured ZnO was synthesized at optimized pH (10.5) from different ratios of zinc acetate and Moringa oleifeira leaf extract (1:7, 1:3, 1:1 and 3:1). ZnO coated polyvinyl alcohol (ZnO/PVA) nanocomposites were prepared from 5, 9, 13 and 16% by wt of ZnO and PVA using solution casting method. The thermal stability of ZnO synthesized with 1:1 ratio at pH 10.5 was investigated with TGA/DTA. The analytical techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultra-violate visible analysis (UV-Vis), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and scanning electron microscope (SEM) were used for the characterization of the synthesized ZnO and ZnO/PVA nanocomposites (NCs). The antibacterial activity of the synthesized ZnO and ZnO/PVA NCs were evaluated against gram negative E. coli and gram positive S. aureus bacteria. The electrochemical stability of ZnO/PVA NCs was also investigated by cyclic voltammetric (CV) method. The thermogram of ZnO indicated that the oxide was found to be stable even beyond 500 degrees C. The SEM analysis revealed rod shaped morphology for synthesized ZnO from 1:1 ratio at pH 10.5. But the nanocomposite prepared with 5% of ZnO of (1:1) at the same pH exhibited uniformly dispersed rod-shaped particle on the surface as well as in matrix of polyvinyl alcohol film. According to XRD result, ZnO synthesized with more percentage of plant extract resulted in the small size crystallites while that with low percentage of plant extract resulted in the larger crystallite size. The antibacterial inhibition efficiency of ZnO/PVA NCs was better and found to increase with increase in the amount of ZnO.