Biomediated synthesis of ZnO quantum dots decorated attapulgite nanocomposites for improved antibacterial properties

Attapulgite (APT) is a natural one-dimensional clay mineral with good biocompatibility and has emerged as a promising nanomaterial for the construction of performance-enhanced nanocomposites. In this study, we developed a ZnO quantum dots-incorporated APT antibacterial nanocomposite by the extract-mediated green route. With the combined assistance of binding interactions of ZnO nuclei with APT and capping effect of active compounds in extract, the quantum-sized ZnO nanoparticles with hexagonal Wurtzite structure and sizes of