Zinc oxide nanoleaves: A scalable disperser-assisted sonochemical approach for synthesis and an antibacterial application

Current study reports a new and highly scalable method for the synthesis of novel structure Zinc oxide nano leaves (ZnO-NLs) using disperser-assisted sonochemical approach. The synthesis was carried out in different batches from 50 mL to 1 L to ensure the scalability of the method which produced almost similar results. The use of high speed (9000 rpm) mechanical dispersion while bath sonication (200 W, 33 kHz) yield 4.4 g of ZnO-NLs powder in 1 L batch reaction within 2 h (> 96% yield). The ZnO-NLs shows an excellent thermal stability even at a higher temperature (900 degrees C) and high surface area. The high antibacterial activity of ZnO-NLs against diseases causing Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus shows a reduction in CFU, morphological changes like eight times reduction in cell size, cell burst, and cellular leakage at 200 mu g/mL concentration. This study provides an efficient, cost-effective and an environmental friendly approach for the synthesis of ZnO-NLs at industrial scale as well as new technique to increase the efficiency of the existing sonochemical method. We envisage that this method can be applied to various fields where ZnO is significantly consumed like rubber manufacturing, ceramic industry and medicine.