Biosynthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles from halophilic soil extracts exhibiting antioxidant and antibacterial activities

Finding sustainable ways to synthesize nanomaterials has become more important as worries about human health, environmental pollution, and climate change have grown. Because of its numerous biomedical uses, especially as antibacterial and antioxidant agents, zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) have drawn interest among these. ZnO-NPs were biosynthesized in this study solely using halophilic soil extracts as environmentally benign stabilizing and reducing agents. X-ray diffraction (XRD) was used to analyze the formulated nanoparticles, and the results verified their high purity and mean crystallite size of 47.45 nm. While Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy revealed functional groups such alcohols, polysaccharides, cellulose, and hemicellulose that probably aided in the creation of nanoparticles, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed primarily spherical morphologies. The elemental composition was validated by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), with zinc and oxygen being the main elements. Biological tests were used to confirm the biosynthesized ZnO-NPs' functional performance. According to the ABTS and FRAP experiments, antioxidant potential showed robust free radical scavenging activity on par with gallic acid. Significant zones of inhibition were observed in the antibacterial activity when tested against pathogenic strains, demonstrating the broad-spectrum effectiveness of the nanoparticles. Additionally, an emollient formulation that included ZnO-NPs showed enhanced therapeutic capacity and biocompatibility, indicating potential for use in wound-healing applications. Halophilic soil extracts can be used as a new and sustainable biogenic source for ZnO-NP synthesis, as this study shows. According to our hypothesis, their distinct metabolites facilitate the effective production of nanoparticles with improved antibacterial and antioxidant properties, providing translational potential in pharmaceutical and biomedical formulations.