Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Materials Today: Proceedings

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Biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using extracts of Moringa

Oleifera: Structural & optical properties
I. Ngom a,b,c,⇑, B.D. Ngom a,b,c, J. Sackey c, S. Khamlich a,c
a
UNESCO-UNISA Africa Chair in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (U2ACN2), College of Graduate Studies, University of South Africa, Muckleneuk Ridge, PO Box 392, Pretoria,
South Africa
b
Laboratoire de Photonique Quantique, Energie et Nano-Fabrication, Faculté des Sciences et Techniques Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (UCAD) B.P. 5005, Dakar-Fann,
Dakar, Sénégal
c
Nanosciences Africa Network (NANOAFNET), iThemba LABS-National Research Foundation, 1 Old Faure Road, Somerset West 7129, PO Box 722, Western Cape, South Africa

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: This contribution reports on the biosynthesis of Nanoscaled Zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) using
Received 2 August 2019 natural extracts from various parts of the Moringa Oleifera as effective chelating agents. More precisely,
Accepted 10 May 2020 natural extracts from flowers, seeds and leaves of Moringa Oleifera as chelating and/or oxidizing/reduc-
Available online xxxx
ing agents of zinc nitrate hexahydrate are reported for the first time in the current literature. The struc-
tural and optical properties of ZnO-NPs obtained by the leaves are slightly different from those obtained
Keywords: with the other extracts. The average crystallite sizes of ZnO-NPs calculated via X-rays diffraction analysis
ZnO
are found to be 13.2, 13.9, and 10.8 nm for ZnO-NPs synthesized by the flowers, seeds, and leaves respec-
Nanoparticles
Moringa Oleifera
tively while the direct band gap values deducted from Tauc approximation are 3.12, 3.18 and 3.25 eV.
Flowers From the photoluminescence analysis at room temperature, a broad band in the visible centered around
Seeds 450 nm is obtained for all the zinc oxide nanoparticles. One major bioactive compound for each solution
Leaves extract was used to propose a mechanism of the reaction of ZnO-NPs formation: L-ascorbic acid for the
leaves, quercetin for the flowers and oleic acid for the seeds.
Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the NANOSMATAFRICA-
2018.

1. Introduction ful physical synthesis techniques of zinc oxide nanoparticles such

ZnO is an n-type semiconductor with a wide and direct band-
gap around 3.3 eV at room temperature depending on the synthe-
sis conditions [1–3]. Its most common crystalline structures are
wurtzite (hexagonal) and zinc-blende [2]. In the other hand, ZnO
is a transparent conducting oxide characterized by a wide
excitation binding energy of 60 meV which enables its use in many
applications such as transparent transistors, semiconductor lasers,
UV-photodetectors among others. Due to their morphology, their
important surface area, ZnO NPs are used in multiple bioactive
applications such as drug delivery, biosensing, antimicrobial, anti-
cancer, antibacterial, and catalysis, in addition to their photonics &
optoelectronic broad technological applications [4,5].
Among the metal oxides nanoparticles, zinc oxide is one of the
most widely studied during the last fifteen years due to its easy
synthesis via physical, chemical, and biological methods. Success-
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: idngom@yahoo.fr (I. Ngom).
as pulsed laser ablation, molecular beam epitaxy, thermal evapora-
tion, chemical vapor deposition as well as chemical techniques
including sol–gel, electrodeposition, spray pyrolysis, hydrothermal
among others require high temperature, high vacuum, and some-
times hazardous solvents [6–8].
Green synthesis methods, on the other hand, compared to these
standard methods, have the advantage to be environmentally
friendly and showed great potential in synthesizing zinc oxide
nanoparticles at lower cost and higher purity. In this regard, vari-
ous biomass compounds were used to synthesize ZnO nanoparti-
cles such as extracts of leaves [9–16], seeds [17], flowers [18],
pods, roots, fruits, and, microorganisms [19–22].
Matinise, N., et al. [9] reported, for the first time, the synthesis
of ZnO nanoparticles using zinc nitrate hexahydrate as a precursor
and Moringa Oleifera leaves’ extract as an effective chelating agent
of Zn2+ via its bioactive compounds. The synthesized nanoparticles
with a particle size varying between 12.27 and 30.51 nm showed
high electrochemical activity, in addition, their structure also
revealed high compressive stress effects. Elumalai, K., et al [14]

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.323
2214-7853/Ó 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the NANOSMATAFRICA-2018.

Please cite this article as: I. Ngom, B. D. Ngom, J. Sackey et al., Biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using extracts of Moringa Oleifera: Structural & opti-
cal properties, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.323
2 I. Ngom et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
reported the synthesis of ZnO NPs using Moringa Oleifera leaves
extract and zinc nitrate hexahydrate as a precursor. The synthe-
sized NPs with a particle size between 16 and 20 nm were agglom-
erated and showed maximum antimicrobial activities against
Staphylococcus Aureus, a member of Firmicutes bacteria, of about
23.8%. Surendra, T. V. et al [23] used Moringa Oleifera peels and zinc
acetate as a precursor to synthesize ZnO nanoparticles with sizes
between 40 and 45 nm and spherical in shape.
Moringa Oleifera is a fast growing tree belonging to the Moringa-
ceae family known as a single genus family of shrubs and trees. Its
different parts such as leaves, flowers, and seeds are used in nutri-
tional, medical, and also in environmental domains. The leaves are
used in the treatment of diabetes, tuberculosis, fever, stomach
aches, ear infections, and skin infections. Although, many authors
studied the composition of phytochemicals in this tree [24,25].
Ghazali, H. M., et al [26] showed that Moringa Oleifera seeds con-
tain about 22 to 40% by weight of oil which contains fatty acids
such as oleic acid, palmitic acid, stearic acid, arachidic acid, Gallic
acid. Other bioactive molecules are present in Moringa Oleifera
seeds: O-ethyl-4-(a-L-rhamnosyloxy)benzyl carbamate, 4-(a-L-
rhamnosyloxy)benzyl isothiocyanate, b-sitosterol, glycerol-1-(-9-
octadecanoate), 3-O-(60 -O-oleoyl-b-D-glucopyranosyl-b-sitosterol,
b-sitosterol-3-O-b-D-glucopyranoside, 4-(a-L-rhamnosyloxy)
benzyl glucosinolate, moringyne [26,27].
The flowers of Moringa Oleifera possess broad bioactive com-
pound such as glucosinolates ((E)-nerolidol, a-terpineol, benzyl
isothiocyanate, 4-hydroxybenzylglucosinolate), phenolic acids (5-
caffeoylquinic acid, 3-caffeoylquinic acid), flavonoids (Quercetin
3-O-rutinoside, Quercetin 3-O-glucoside, Kaempferol 3-O-
rutinoside, Kaempferol 3-O-glucoside, Isorhamnetin 3-O-(f-
malonylglucoside)), proteins, free amino acids, vitamin C [28].
Moringa Oleifera leaves content many bioactive compounds such
as flavanol glucoside, benzoïque acid glucosides, benzaldehyde 4-
O-b-glucoside [25]. Some bioactive compounds are common to
the seeds, leaves and flowers namely phenols, crude proteins, and
glucosides. Mineral elements such as Mg, K, Ca, P, and S are also
found in Moringa Oleifera leaves as well as in the flowers [24].
To the best of our knowledge, there is no documentation on the
biosynthesis of ZnO using the three different biomass namely
leaves, seeds and flowers of the Moringa Oleifera. In this paper,
and as mentioned previously, we report on the biosynthesis of
ZnO nanoparticles using Moringa Oleifera leaves, seeds, and flowers’
extracts as effective stabilizing and chelating agents. The effects of
the different bioactive compounds present in these natural extracts
on structural and optical properties of ZnO NPs are studied.
2. Experimental details
2.1. Preparation of the extracts
Flowers, leaves, and seeds of Moringa Oleifera were collected at
Bambey (department located in the center of Senegal) and dried
under sunny conditions. All the solutions were prepared in the
same procedure. 6 g of each powder (flowers, leaves) or crushed
seeds were immersed in 200 mL of deionized H2O and then heated
at about 50 °C during 2 h under a thorough magnetic stirring to
extract the maximum of bioactive compounds. The mixtures were
filtered to remove residual solids. Clear solutions were obtained.
Their pH measured were: pH  5.2 (flowers), 5.64 (seeds), and
5.78 (leaves).
2.2. Biosynthesis of ZnO nanoparticles
For the synthesis, zinc nitrate hexahydrate Zn(NO3)26H2O pur-
chased from Sigma Aldrich (99.99% purity) was used as precursor
Please cite this article as: I. Ngom, B. D. Ngom, J. Sackey et al., Biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using extracts of Moringa Oleifera: Structural & opti-
cal properties, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.323
without any further purification. Weight of 1.5 g of this salt was
dissolved in 50 mL of each solution extract. The pH measurements
of the mixtures give 4.3 for the flowers, 4.06 for the seeds, and 4.43
for the leaves. The mixtures were then heated under magnetic stir-
ring at about 70 °C for 2 h. The mixtures in which precipitates
appear were introduced in the oven at 100 °C until they’re
completely dried. XRD analysis of the samples showed that they
are amorphous. Consequently, the dried samples were annealed
in air at 500 °C for 2 h and characterized using different techniques
(Fig. 1).
2.3. Characterization techniques
Structural properties of as-prepared ZnO-NPs were character-
ized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) using a diffractometer (Bruker
AXS D8 Advance) with 2theta/theta geometry operating at 2 theta
values ranging from 30° to 80° with a step size of 0.034° and radi-
ation kCuKa1 = 1.54056 Å. X-ray diffraction analysis was carried out
for all the samples before and after the thermal annealing (at
500 °C for 2 h). Diffuse reflectance spectra were recorded using a
Carry 5000 UV–Vis-NIR spectrometer equipped with an integrating
sphere in a wavelength range of 200–2500 nm. Attenuated Total
Reflection-Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR)
was performed by using a Thermo-Nicolet 8700 FTIR spectrometer
to identify the functional groups if any in the different samples.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Structural and crystallographic analysis
Fig. 2 shows the XRD pattern of the various ZnO-NPs obtained
after annealing at 500 °C for 2 h of the as-prepared compounds.
Before the annealing, ZnO-NPs are amorphous compared to the
annealed samples. For the annealed samples at 500 °C for 2 h, the
eight peaks are indexed to the pure wurtzite (hexagonal) structure
of ZnO (JCPDF n° 00-036-1451) which confirm their high crystal-
lization. In term of structural ZnO properties, the leaves, the seeds,
and the flowers of Moringa Oleifera give similar results. The reticu-
lar planes (hkl) and the corresponding Bragg diffraction angles h,
the reticular distance, the full width at half maximum and the
diameter of the NPs are summarized in Tables 1, 2 and 3 respec-
tively for ZnO NPs synthesized via flowers, seeds, and leaves of
Moringa Oleifera. The inter-planer distance was calculated using
Bragg’s law given by the following relation;
2dsinh ¼ nk ð1Þ
where n = 1 and k = 1.54056 Å is the wavelength of Cu-K radiation.
The ratio Dd/dbulk (where Dd = dexp – dbulk) is negative for (0 0 2)
plane of all the synthesized ZnO, suggesting that flowers, leaves,
and seeds of Moringa Oleifera bioactive compounds lead to the con-
traction of c-direction. Contrariwise, this ratio is positive for (1 0 0),
(1 0 1), (1 0 2), (1 1 0) planes to indicate elongation conditions
through the directions comparatively to the bulk ZnO.
Using the relation (2) the average values of the lattice parame-
ters haexp i and hcexp i was deducted.
  1=2
2 2 2
dhkl ¼ ½4 h þ k þ hk =3a2 þ l =c2  ð2Þ
As indicated in Table 4, the values of the lattice parameters
match well with the bulk values. The ratio ac almost doesn’t depend
to the type of natural extract from Moringa Oleifera. The crystallite
sizes are calculated using the following Debby Scherrer’s relation:
0:94k
£¼ ð3Þ
DCOSh
 I. Ngom et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx 3

Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the experiment.

teristics of nanoparticles during the synthesis: an increase of the pH

leads generally to a decrease of the crystallite sizes [29,30]. In the
other hands, the length of the molecular compounds is likely to
influence the coalescence of the native ZnO clusters and nano-
grains. For example, in Moringa Oleifera flowers, the major com-
pounds are flavonoids while for the seeds it is fatty acid and for
the leaves, it is vitamins and flavonoids.

3.2. Optical analysis

Fig. 3 depicts the UV–Vis-NIR spectra of ZnO NPs synthesized by

Fig. 2. XRD pattern of ZnO-NPs annealed at 500 °C.
where D is the Full Width at Half Maximum (rad). The average h£i
is found to be 13.2, 13.9, and 10.8 nm respectively for ZnO-NPs syn-
thesized by the flowers, seeds, and leaves. The crystallite size of
ZnO-NPs synthesized with the leaves of Moringa Oleifera, which
have a higher pH, is smaller compared to the others. The pH is
one of the important parameters which affect the structural charac-
Moringa Oleifera flowers, seeds, and leaves. From the spectra, we
can observe a clear dependence in the optical properties as a func-
tion of extract solution used. Indeed the energy of the band gap is
3.12, 3.18 and 3.25 eV for the ZnO synthesized by the flowers, the
seeds, and the leaves respectively. These values were obtained
using the Tauc plot by extrapolation of the linear portion of the
curve (aht)2 versus ðhtÞ to the X-axis which give directly the
energy of the band gap as indicated in Fig. 4. In this graph a is
the absorption coefficient and ht design the energy of the photon.
It can be seen clearly that the energy of the band gap depend to the
bioactive compounds used during the green synthesis of ZnO
nanoparticles. The compounds present in the leaves give ZnO NPs
with a band gap identical to that commonly reported in the litera-
ture [31,32] while those present in the flowers as well as in the
seeds lead to the decrease of this band gap.
ATR-FTIR spectra of ZnO nanoparticles not annealed and
annealed at 500 °C for 2 h in the spectral range of 400–
4000 cm1 are showed in Fig. 5 in which appear at lower
wavenumbers around 487 cm1 for all of the curves, peaks indicat-
ing stretching vibration mode of pure ZnO. At high wavenumbers,
we can distinguish, for the not annealed compounds, broad bands
from 3695 to 3019 cm1 corresponding to the O–H stretching
vibrations modes indicating the presence of a lot of water mole-
cules. These bands disappear and give rise to peaks centered

Please cite this article as: I. Ngom, B. D. Ngom, J. Sackey et al., Biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using extracts of Moringa Oleifera: Structural & opti-
cal properties, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.323
4 I. Ngom et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Table 1
ZnO by Flowers.

hkl hbulk (rad) hexp (rad) dhklðbulkÞ (Å) dhklðexpÞ (Å) Dd=dhklðbulkÞ FWHM (rad) h£i(nm)

(1 0 0) 0.2772 0.2766 2.8143 2.8206 0.0019 0.0070 21.50

(0 0 2) 0.3003 0.3006 2.6033 2.6015 0.0006 0.0099 15.31
(1 0 1) 0.3163 0.3161 2.4759 2.4779 0.0004 0.0128 11.90
(1 0 2) 0.4148 0.4141 1.9111 1.9144 0.0018 0.0227 6.968
(1 1 0) 0.4939 0.4937 1.6247 1.5602 0.0004 0.0243 6.767
(1 0 3) 0.5485 0.5489 1.4771 1.4763 0.0005 0.0104 16.32
(1 1 2) 0.5930 0.5927 1.3781 1.3789 0.00001 0.0131 13.33
(2 0 1) 0.6030 0.6031 1.3582 1.3580 0.0001 0.0128 13.74

Table 2
ZnO by Seeds.

hkl hbulk (rad) hexp (rad) dhklðbulkÞ (Å) dhklðexpÞ (Å) Dd=dhklðbulkÞ FWHM (rad) h£i(nm)

(1 0 0) 0.2772 0.2767 2.8143 2.8196 0.0019 0.0153 22.25

(0 0 2) 0.3003 0.3006 2.6033 2.6015 0.0007 0.0183 19.19
(1 0 1) 0.3163 0.3156 2.4759 2.4817 0.0023 0.0165 21.74
(1 0 2) 0.4148 0.4144 1.9111 1.9131 0.0010 0.0166 9.530
(1 1 0) 0.4939 0.4935 1.6247 1.6261 0.0009 0.0162 10.15
(1 0 3) 0.5485 0.5483 1.4771 1.4778 0.0005 0.0183 9.272
(1 1 2) 0.5930 0.5954 1.3781 1.3734 0.0034 0.0317 5.517

Table 3
ZnO by Leaves.

hkl hbulk (rad) hexp (rad) dhklðbulkÞ (Å) dhklðexpÞ (Å) Dd=dhklðbulkÞ FWHM (rad) h£i(nm)

(1 0 0) 0.2772 0.2766 2.8143 2.8206 0.0022 0.0145 10.38

(0 0 2) 0.3003 0.3006 2.6033 2.6015 0.0007 0.0158 9.595
(1 0 1) 0.3163 0.3156 2.4759 2.4817 0.0023 0.0161 9.4618
(1 0 2) 0.4148 0.4144 1.9111 1.9131 0.0010 0.0178 8.888
(1 1 0) 0.4939 0.4935 1.6247 1.6260 0.0008 0.0163 7.557
(1 0 3) 0.5485 0.5488 1.4771 1.4766 0.0003 0.0186 9.126
(1 1 2) 0.5930 0.5927 1.3781 1.3789 0.0006 0.0175 9.977
(2 0 1) 0.6030 0.6023 1.3582 1.3596 0.0010 0.0162 10.85

Table 4 around 3665 cm1 and 2970 cm1 for the annealed ZnO. The peaks
Average lattice parameters.
around 2893 cm1 can be indexed to the stretching bands of the
Average lattice parameters hai(Å) hci(Å) c/a various functional groups (NH2, HO-C=O, C–H, H3C-O) present in
ZnO by Flowers 3.2522 5.2445 1.613 the bioactive compounds of Moringa Oleifera extracts [9]. The peaks
ZnO by Seeds 3.2438 5.2184 1.608 at 1620 cm1 are attributed to the –C=C (aliphatic) stretching
ZnO by Leaves 3.2530 5.2317 1.608 vibrations and H2O bending modes. The peaks at 1390 cm1
ZnO bulk 3.2498 5.2066 1.602

Fig. 3. UV–Visible spectra of ZnO annealed at 500 °C.

Please cite this article as: I. Ngom, B. D. Ngom, J. Sackey et al., Biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using extracts of Moringa Oleifera: Structural & opti-
cal properties, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.323
 I. Ngom et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx 5

Fig. 4. Tauc plots (aht)2 versus ht of ZnO synthesized by (a) flowers; (b) seeds; (c) leaves.

Fig. 5. ATR-FTIR spectra of unannealed (UA) and annealed ZnO-NPs.

indicate the presence of residual NO 3 from the salt used as a

precursor.
The photoluminescence (PL) spectra of the different ZnO-NPs
synthesized by using flowers, seeds, and leaves of Moringa Oleifera
extracts before and after annealing at 500 °C for 2 h are showed in
Fig. 6. These spectra are obtained at room temperature using the
excitation wavelength kext = 325 nm from a He-Cd laser source.
We can notice a small difference between the curves in term of
intensities and wavelength for the peaks. From this spectra, one
can distinguish a broad emission band ranging from 350 nm to
550 nm. In that range, the flowers and the seeds of Moringa Oleifera
give nearly identical curves for not annealed as well as for
annealed ZnO-NPs. Unlike the not annealed sample obtained with
the leaves which shows a fluorescent intensity superior to the
others. The values of the band gaps calculated from the UV–Vis
analysis corresponding to the wavelengths 397.7, 390.3 and
381.8 nm respectively for ZnO synthesized by the flowers, the
seeds, and the leaves are in agreement with the spectra below
400 nm. The corresponding emission in the UV range is attributed
to the recombination of free exciton between the valence band
(VB) and the covalent band (CB) [10]. The visible band (deep level
emission, DLE) are generally caused by impurities [33] and struc-
tural defects on the surface of Zincite ZnO-NPs [34]. This visible
emission can be assigned to the structure defects since no impuri-
ties were revealed in XRD analysis. The emission in the visible
range comes from the recombination of the photo-generated hole
Fig. 6. Room temperature Photoluminescence of ZnO annealed at 500 °C and
unannealed.
with the electrons occupying the oxygen vacancies [35]. In this vis-
ible range, some of peaks are remarkable at 430.1 nm for both ZnO-
NPs synthesized by the flowers and the seeds while for the leaves
this peak appears at 428.1. These emissions are attributed to inter-
stitial zinc (Zni) which is electron donors [34]. For the not annealed
samples, this emission appears in the form of double peaks at
410.6–443.5 nm for the not annealed flowers and seeds and at
414.6 – 439.5 nm for the not annealed leaves. The peaks assigned
to zinc vacancy (VZn) which is known to be electron acceptors
appear in the not annealed samples at 470.9 nm both for the flow-
ers and the seeds and at 473.7 nm for the leaves. Emissions cen-
tered between 610.5 and 614 nm corresponding to the oxygen
interstitial (Oi) has been observed for all the samples annealed as
well as not annealed.

Please cite this article as: I. Ngom, B. D. Ngom, J. Sackey et al., Biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using extracts of Moringa Oleifera: Structural & opti-
cal properties, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.323
6 I. Ngom et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 7. Proposed mechanism of ZnO formation via major active compounds.

For each extracted solution, one major bioactive compound is extract, a flavonoid (quercetin) for the flowers and a fatty acid
chosen to describe a plausible mechanism of the reaction as shown (oleic acid) for the seeds. In these mechanisms, the nitrate ion ion-
in Fig. 7. A vitamin (L-ascorbic acid) was chosen for the leaves izes the bioactive compounds for the first step and then the result-

Please cite this article as: I. Ngom, B. D. Ngom, J. Sackey et al., Biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using extracts of Moringa Oleifera: Structural & opti-
cal properties, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.323
 I. Ngom et al. / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx
ing cations interact with Zn2+ via electrostatic attractions. As a
follow-up study for the current investigation, it is intended to
investigate the possibility to control the shape/growth anisotropy
via such extracts [36,37].
4. Conclusion
Green synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles via Zn(NO3)26H2O
as a precursor and Moringa Oleifera flowers, seeds, and leaves solu-
tions extract as effective chelating reduction/oxidizing agent was
demonstrated for the first time in this study via various charateri-
zation techniques; XRD, ATR-FTIR, and UV–VIS analysis. The bioac-
tive molecules present in these three parts of Moringa Oleifera lead
to the formation of ZnO-NPs with nearly identical structural prop-
erties but slightly different optical properties. The other parts of
Moringa Oleifera such as roots and peels could be investigated to
achieve an integral study of the effects of the various bioactive
compounds present in this tree in the synthesis of ZnO-NPs specif-
ically and other multifunctional nanoscaled oxides.
Declaration of Competing Interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing finan-
cial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared
to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This research was financially supported by the German Aca-
demic Exchange Service (DAAD) through the scholarship program
In-Region UNISA South Africa, 2018. The authors are thankful to
iThemba LABS-National Research Foundation of South Africa for
the use of their facilities. The authors are also thankful for the
UNESCO-UNISA Africa Chair in Nanosciences and Nanotechnology
(U2ACN2).
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Please cite this article as: I. Ngom, B. D. Ngom, J. Sackey et al., Biosynthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles using extracts of Moringa Oleifera: Structural & opti-
cal properties, Materials Today: Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2020.05.323