Synthesis, characterisation of ZnO@PDA@Ag nanocomposite: Mechanistic interaction with BSA, photodegradation activity & in vitro cytotoxicity assay on H1299 lung cancer cell line.

Despite advancements in diagnosis and therapeutic, cancer retains to be a greatest cause of fatality and economic damage to the world. Metallic nanoparticles have grabbed attention particularly in the field of medicine attributed to their noteworthy biological and catalytic properties, offering significant progress. The work aimed to create a novel biocompatible 'Silver doped Polydopamine coated Zinc-Oxide nanocomposite' and investigate its efficacy in treating H1299 lung cancer cells as well as water remediation. In this study, a 'ZnO@PDA@Ag' Nanocomposite was synthesised using co-precipitation method and was further characterised using DLS, FESEM-EDX, P-XRD, XPS, TEM and FT-IR techniques. The mechanistic interaction with blood protein, suggested strong binding interactions and notable structural changes in BSA upon exposure to the nanocomposite. The photocatalytic properties evaluated against the Rhodamine B Dye under UV-Visible light irradiation demonstrated a photodegradation of ~49.7% within 120 min for 60 μg/mL of the used nanocomposite. Herein, we present an evaluation of anticancer bioactivity of ZnO@PDA@Ag nanoparticles using MTT assay against the H1299 lung cancer cell line and its IC was estimated to be (42.42 ± 4) μg/mL. The cytotoxicity was enhanced through immobilization of Silver (Ag) metal on ZnO@PDA. Moreover, the hemolysis experiment was also conducted to demonstrate the biocompatibility of nanoparticle to human red blood cells. As a result, the successfully created biocompatible nanomaterial may be useful as an efficient drug-delivery system against cancer cells.