Fruit peel–derived ZnO NPs: A sustainable route to multifunctional applications in sensing, photocatalysis, and biomedicine

A novel, eco-friendly combustion strategy is reported for the synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs), employing pomelo and Citrus bergamia peel extracts as renewable green fuel sources. The structural and morphological properties of the NPs were characterized using x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (EDS), fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), brunauer-emmett-teller (BET) surface area analysis, and raman spectroscopy. XRD results confirmed the formation of a hexagonal wurtzite crystal structure. The crystallite sizes estimated by the Debye–Scherrer and Williamson–Hall methods were 30.76 nm and 34.22 nm, respectively. The uniform deformation model (UDM) indicated a very low lattice strain (0.0029), confirming the good crystallinity of the synthesized ZnO-NPs. The study highlights the valorization of agro-waste into high-performance nanomaterials with cross-disciplinary relevance. The study uniquely demonstrates the simultaneous exhibition of antioxidant and antimicrobial activities, along with efficient photocatalytic degradation of organic pollutants and successful latent fingerprint visualization. These combined applications underscore the potential of ZnO-NPs, synthesized using pomelo and C. Bergamia peel extracts, as sustainable NPs for environmental remediation, forensic analysis, and biomedical applications. This work further establishes a green synthetic pathway and opens new avenues for the development of eco-friendly multifunctional NPs.