Original Research
Fabrication and characterization of ZnO/Ag nanocomposite using phoenix dactylifera mucilage for antibacterial applications
A. Iqbal
a
M. F. Ijaz
b
M. A. Dilbraiz
c
T. Tahir
d
I. Ahmed
e
Y. Iqbal
a
K. Shahzad
g

a Department of Chemistry, University of Sialkot, Sialkot 51040, Pakistan

b Department of Mechanical Engineering, College of Engineering, King Saud

University P.O. Box 800, Riyadh, 12372, Saudi Arabia

cDepartment of Applied Sciences, Pakistan Navy Engineering

College NUST Karachi, Pakistan

d Department of Nuclear Research, Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Savanorių Ave. 231, LT-02300 Vilnius, Lithuania

e Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome

00133, Italy

f Department of Chemistry, Baba Guru Nanak University, Nankana Sahib-39100, Pakistan

g Department of Physics, Baba Guru Nanak University, Nankana Sahib-39100,

Pakistan


Journal of Optoelectronic and Biomedical Materials 2025, 17(3),173-185; https://doi.org/10.15251/JOBM.2025.173.173
Submitted:May 09, 2025
Accepted:Aug 20, 2025
Published:Aug 15, 2025
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Cite This Article
A. Iqbal ,M. F. Ijaz ,M. A. Dilbraiz ,T. Tahir ,I. Ahmed ,Y. Iqbal ,K. Shahzad . (2025). Journal of Optoelectronic and Biomedical Materials. Fabrication and characterization of ZnO/Ag nanocomposite using <em>phoenix dactylifera</em> mucilage for antibacterial applications, 17(3), ,173-185. https://doi.org/10.15251/JOBM.2025.173.173
Abstract

The central focus of this work was to synthesize a ZnO/Ag nanocomposite employing a sustainable, cost-effective, and eco-friendly approach with fewer harmful chemicals. The mucilage of the date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) was utilized for the purpose of capping and sealing. The synthesized ZnO/Ag exhibited a face-centered cubic structure of Ag and a hexagonal wurtzite crystalline phase. Their mean crystallite size was 25 nm. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that the particles have a spherical morphology. The antibacterial efficacy of the fabricated ZnO/Ag nanocomposite was evaluated against the bacterial strains S. aureus, B. subtilis, E. coli, A. hydrophila, and B. cereus using the agar well diffusion technique. The ZnO/Ag nanocomposite generated inhibitory zones of 15.3 ± 0.58 mm, 15.7 ± 0.58 mm, 15.5 ± 0.5 mm, 11.4 ± 0.51 mm, and 10.6 ± 0.58 mm, respectively. In the future, antibacterial biobased bandages for wound healing and hand sanitizers may be developed utilizing the ZnO/Ag nanocomposite, which has demonstrated antibacterial efficacy and was produced by a cost-effective and eco-friendly method.

©2026 by the authors. Submitted for possible open access publication under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
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