Biosynthesis of Flower-Shaped CuO Nanostructures and Their Photocatalytic and Antibacterial Activities

Copper oxide nanoflowers (CuO-NFs) have been synthesized through a novel green route using Tulsi leaves-extracted eugenol (4-allyl-2-methoxyphenol) as reducing agent. Characterizations results reveal the growth of crystalline single-phase CuO-NFs with monoclinic structure. The prepared CuO-NFs can effectively degrade methylene blue with 90% efficiency. They also show strong barrier against E. coli (27 ± 2 mm) at the concentration of 100 µg mL^-1, while at the concentration of 25 µg mL^-1 weak barrier has been found against all examined bacterial organisms. The results provide important evidence that CuO-NFs have sustainable performance in methylene blue degradation as well as bacterial organisms.