Bioinspired triangular ZnO nanoclusters synthesized by Argyreia nervosa nascent leaf extract for the efficient electrochemical determination of vitamin C.

This work deals with the synthesis of bioinspired triangular ZnO nanoclusters (bT-ZnO NCs) from Argyreia nervosa nascent leaf extract for their effective antibacterial activity and further utilization as a platform for the electrocatalytic determination of ascorbic acid (AA; vitamin C) for applications in the agricultural domain. The structural, optical, and morphological characteristics of the synthesized bT-ZnO NCs were analyzed by UV-vis, FT-IR, XRD, AFM, SEM, TEM, HR-TEM, and EDX techniques. After this, bT-ZnO NCs were electrophoretically deposited onto an indium-tin-oxide (ITO) glass substrate and assessed for the electro-oxidation of AA by cyclic voltammetry (CV), and from this it was proven that bT-ZnO NCs had a very high electrochemical sensitivity of 29.88 μA cm -2 toward AA and a low limit of detection of 0.5321 mM under the optimized experimental conditions. Thus, it provides a potential sensing platform for electrochemical studies to detect AA. Moreover, bT-ZnO NCs were preliminarily investigated for their antibacterial activity, and the obtained results showed that the bT-ZnO NCs have potency as an antibacterial agent.