Microstructure, surface morphology and anticancer activity of magnesium doped zinc oxide nanoparticles

Abstract

Depending upon their origin and synthesis methods, nanoparticles possess unique physicochemical, structural and morphological characteristics, which are important in a wide variety of applications concomitant to various fields. In the present work, Magnesium doped zinc oxide nanoparticles with different concentrations (5 atomic % and 10 atomic %) are prepared and the prepared samples are annealed at 200 ⸰C for 2 h in a muffle furnace. The structure, surface morphology, chemical composition, optical properties and photoluminescence properties were analyzed using standard procedures. The antioxidant potential and cytotoxicity against the breast cancer MDAMB231 cancer cell line of prepared nanoparticles were explored. A simple, economical soft chemical method was used. The XRD analysis confirmed the presence of hexagonal wurtzite phase with a space group P63mc all the prepared samples. The estimated average grain size for the sample MZ2 (18.16 nm) was smaller than the other samples. The SEM micrograph showed that the morphology of the samples were exhibited the rod shape (MZ1, MZ2 and MZ4) and flower shape (MZ3). The purity of the samples was confirmed by EDAX data. The estimated band gap energy of sample MZ1 and sample MZ3 were 3.41e V and 3.38 e V from the UV-vis analysis. The FT-IR spectra of the samples predicted the presence of functional groups for Zn-O and Mg-O bonds. The PL analysis displayed a strong UV emission peak at 387 nm and a green emission peak at 557 nm. The results of the prepared samples prove the potential toxicity against MDAMB231 breast cancer cell line.