This study reports an environment-friendly synthetic strategy to process nickel oxide nanocrystals. A mesoporous nickel oxide nanostructure was synthesized using an environmentally benign biomimetic method. We used a natural rambutan peel waste resource as a raw material to ligate nickel ions to form nickel-ellagate complexes. The direct decomposition of the obtained complexes at 700 oC, 900 oC and 1100 oC in a static air atmosphere resulted in mesoporous nickel oxide nanostructures. The formation of columnar mesoporous NiO with a concentric stacked doughnuts architecture was purely dependent on the suitable direct decomposition temperature at 1100 oC when the synthesis was carried out. The prepared NiO nanocrystals were coated on cotton fabric and their antibacterial activity was also analyzed. The NiO nanoparticle-treated cotton fabric exhibited good antibacterial and wash durability performance.

In this study, an environment-friendly synthetic strategy to process zinc oxide nanocrystals is reported. The biosynthesis method used in this study is simple and cost-effective, with reduced solvent waste via the use of fruit peel extract as a natural ligation agent. The formation of ZnO nanocrystals using a rambutan peel extract was observed in this study. Rambutan peels has the ability to ligate zinc ions as a natural ligation agent, resulting in ZnO nanochain formation due to the presence of an extended polyphenolic system over the whole incubation period. Via transmission electron microscopy, successful formation of zinc oxide nanochains was confirmed. TEM observation revealed that the bioinspired ZnO nanocrystals were spherical and/or hexagonal particles with sizes between 50 and 100 nm.