Green Synthesis of Zinc Oxide Nanostructures

Abstract

ZnO-based nanomaterials have been proven to be of great use for several leading applications since the beginning of nanoscience due to the abundance of zinc element and the relatively easy conversion of its oxide to nanostructures. Nowadays, ZnO as nanoparticles, nanowires, nanofibers as well as plenty of other sophisticated nanostructures takes place among the pioneer nanomaterials employed in the photovoltaic systems, fuel cells, and biomedical fields. Nevertheless, optimizing energy consumption and being eco-friendly are the challenging requirements that are still to be overcome for their synthesis. Green chemistry has been strongly presented recently in the scientific arena as an adequate potential alternative; worldwide investigations have been held on subjects involving bacteria, fungus, or algae-based synthesis as efficient options, and some of the intriguing scientific findings on this subject are reported hereafter.