Anti-cancer applications of Zr, Co, Ni-doped ZnO thin nanoplates

•Ni-ZnO is impressive in hampering breast cancer cells growth.•Ni-ZnO revealed nuclear condensation and fragmentation.•Ni-ZnO is worth enough to serve as an anticancer drug. Nanostructured zinc oxide received much attention with its distinctive properties. Undoped and doped ZnO formation by hydrothermal route was summarized. ZnO hexagonal structure was confirmed by sharp X-ray diffraction peak corresponding to crystalline plane (101), and doped ZnO diffraction peaks have a minor shift to inferior angle by 0.6˚. FTIR confirmed Zn-O vibration band observed at 422 cm−1. The doping concentration played a vital role in materials morphology and optical properties. SEM confirmed the existence of thin uniform nanoplate surface morphology. ZnO oxygen vacancies were revealed by PL spectra, which exhibited a chief role in anticancer mechanism and activity with green emission (491 nm, 2.52 eV) originated from electrons shift between ionized oxygen vacancy and valence band. Prepared ZnO with and without dopants have been explored to reveal anticancer applications, and obtained results are more suitable for real-time applications.