Enhanced Biomedical and Photocatalytic Capabilities of Biosynthesized Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Using Pistacia khinjuk Plant Extract

ABSTRACT Nanotechnology presents tackling diverse difficulties across numerous domains, including environmental remediation, catalysis, and medicine. This study adopted an ultrasonic‐assisted technique to synthesize ZnO nanoparticles from Pistacia khinjuk leaf extract for biomedicine and dye degradation applications. The formation of biosynthesized nanoparticles was confirmed using various morphological techniques, including UV‐visible spectroscopy (peak at ∼373 nm), x‐ray diffraction analysis (indicating a hexagonal phase), particle size analyzer (particle size of ∼19 nm), and scanning electron microscopy (revealing an irregular shape). The maximum DPPH scavenging potential of ZnO nanoparticles at 100 µg/mL concentration was 71.3%. The ZnO nanoparticles demonstrated selective toxicity towards the HeLa cells (cancer cell lines) rather than fibroblast cells (normal cell lines). The ZnO nanoparticles demonstrated a photocatalytic effect of 97.6% in 150 min under UV light irradiation, indicating their potential for environmental remediation. The present work suggests the potential usage of P. khinjuk leaf as a source of bioactive compounds and underscores the efficacy of biosynthesized ZnO nanoparticles in environmental and biomedical applications.