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Green synthesis of cerium oxide nanoparticles using zucchini peel extract for cytotoxic and photocatalytic properties

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Abstract

The aim of this study is the green synthesis of cerium oxide nanoparticles (CeO2-NPs) using a natural capping agent and its application in water and wastewater treatment. This study presents the biosynthesis of CeO2-NPs by the exertion of a green method using zucchini (Cucurbita pepo) extract as a capping agent. Synthesized CeO2-NPs were distinguished through TGA/DTA, FT–IR, XRD, FESEM/TEM and EDX/PSA, and DRS procedures. According to the XRD pattern of NPs, the crystallinity structure was a face-centered cubic (fcc) with an Fm3m space group and the size was estimated at 30 nm. The spherical morphology of NPs was confirmed through FESEM/TEM images. In the following, the photocatalytic property of NPs was investigated by the decolorization of methylene blue (MB) dye within UV-A light. Also, the cytotoxicity of NPs on the CT26 cell line was evaluated through the MTT test, and no toxicity was observed in the results, which indicates their biocompatibility.

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Acknowledgements

The technical support for this work was provided by the Mashhad University of Medical Sciences and the Islamic Azad University of Neyshabur based on the Ph.D. thesis of Ms. P. Mahmoodi.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry, Neyshabur Branch, Islamic Azad University, Neyshabur, Iran

    Pegah Mahmoodi, Majid Darroudi & Jamshid Mehrzad

  2. Department of Chemistry, Neyshabur Branch, Islamic Azad University, Neyshabur, Iran

    Alireza Motavalizadehkakhky & Raheleh Zhiani

  3. Advanced Research Center for Chemistry, Biochemistry & Nanomaterial, Neyshabur Branch, Islamic Azad University, Neyshabur, Iran

    Alireza Motavalizadehkakhky & Jamshid Mehrzad

  4. Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Neyshabur University of Medical Sciences, Neyshabur, Iran

    Majid Darroudi

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  1. Pegah Mahmoodi
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  2. Alireza Motavalizadehkakhky
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  3. Majid Darroudi
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Contributions

PM: investigation, methodology, software, writing—original draft, formal analysis. AM: investigation, software, writing—review and editing. MD: supervision, project administration, validation, methodology, writing—review and editing. JM: data curation, writing—review and editing. RZ: data curation, writing—review and editing.

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Correspondence to Alireza Motavalizadehkakhky or Majid Darroudi.

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Mahmoodi, P., Motavalizadehkakhky, A., Darroudi, M. et al. Green synthesis of cerium oxide nanoparticles using zucchini peel extract for cytotoxic and photocatalytic properties. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 46, 1163–1173 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-023-02888-z

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