Synthesis and Characterization of the Starch‐ZnO Hybrid Nanoparticles: Effect of the Amylose Content

Abstract In this work, starches with different amylose contents are used as the stabilizer to prepare zinc oxide nanoparticles through the in situ chemical precipitation method. X‐ray diffraction analysis confirms formation of hexagonal ZnO nanoparticles. It is observed that the ZnO nanoparticles are coated by starch when starch is added during preparation of ZnO nanoparticles, which indicates that the nanoparticles are the starch‐ZnO hybrid nanoparticles. Moreover, hybridization with starches reduces the size of ZnO nanoparticles and the size of hybrid particles is in the order of high‐amylose starch‐ZnO nanoparticles < normal starch‐ZnO nanoparticles < waxy starch‐ZnO nanoparticles. In addition, in the presence of waxy corn starch, some starch particles appear around the waxy corn starch‐ZnO nanoparticles. Hybridization with high‐amylose corn starch enhances the UV absorption ability of ZnO nanoparticles. Furthermore, hybridization with starch enhances the antibacterial activity of ZnO nanoparticles. These results suggest that high‐amylose corn starch has the strongest ability to stabilize ZnO nanoparticles and improve their properties.