Nanoscaled Zinc Oxide Prepared by Mono-amino Acid Templated Assembly and Their Superior Biological Properties

Nanoscaled zinc oxide (ZnO) was synthesized via a benign mineralization reaction using mono-amino acid as templates. Characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy, it was found that the microstructure of as-prepared ZnO can be fine-tuned into olive-like and flake-like structures with leucine and histidine respectively. Otherwise, the photoluminescence (PL) results indicate that biomineralized ZnO nanoparticles show a potential application in the fields of optical devices. To further explore the biological performance of as-prepared ZnO nanoparticles, antibacterial activity tests against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, and cytocompatibility on mouse MC3T3 cells were also investigated. The superior biological properties of these biomineralized ZnO together with their intrinsic photoluminescent properties open perspectives for the development of biomedical applications.