The present study investigates ameliorative effects of nitric oxide (NO) against zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) phytotoxicity in wheat seedlings. ZnONPs exposure hampered growth of wheat seedlings, which coincided with reduced photosynthetic efficiency (Fv/Fm and qP), due to increased accumulation of zinc (Zn) in xylem and phloem saps. However, SNP supplementation partially mitigated the ZnONPs-mediated toxicity through the modulation of photosynthetic activity and Zn accumulation in xylem and phloem saps. Further, the results reveal that ZnONPs treatments enhanced levels of hydrogen peroxide and lipid peroxidation (as malondialdehyde; MDA) due to severely inhibited activities of the following ascorbate–glutatione cycle (AsA–GSH) enzymes: ascorbate peroxidase, glutathione reductase, monodehydroascorbate reductase and dehydroascorbate reductase, and its associated metabolites ascorbate and glutathione. In contrast to this, the addition of SNP together with ZnONPs maintained the cellular functioning of the AsA–GSH cycle properly, hence lesser damage was noticed in comparison to ZnONPs treatments alone. The protective effect of SNP against ZnONPs toxicity on fresh weight (growth) can be reversed by 2-(4carboxy-2-phenyl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethyl- imidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide, a NO scavenger, and thus suggesting that NO released from SNP ameliorates ZnONPs toxicity. Overall, the results of the present study have shown the role of NO in the reducing of ZnONPs toxicity through the regulation of accumulation of Zn as well as the functioning of the AsA–GSH cycle.

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Nanosize TiO2 powders prepared by the sol–gel technique at pH of precipitation 4.5 and 6.5 show the anatase phase after calcining at 500 °C. Anatase to rutile phase transformation (ART), however, occurs at 650 °C in the case of pH 6.5 while 850 °C is found to be the ART temperature for the lower pH sample. pH of precipitation dependent ART temperature has not been reported so far to the best of our knowledge. It is known that the smaller the particle size, the lower the ART temperature, and vice versa. The observation of higher crystallite size and lower ART temperature in the case of the higher pH sample contradicts the reported result. We realized from x-ray photoelectron spectroscopic studies that oxygen vacancy concentration drives the ART temperature to lower values in the higher pH sample compared with the sample synthesized at lower pH; even the particle size is found to be higher in the former one.

A novel methanol derived graphene (MDG) and gentamicin sulfate nanohybrid was prepared, and the loading and release behaviour of gentamicin on MDG is investigated. An efficient drug loading of 2.57 mg mg(-1) was obtained at pH 7. By applying release kinetic models, the mechanism of release of the drug from the MDG matrix was found to be following the Korsmeyer-Peppas model. However, the diffusional release exponent (n) value lies below 0.5 demonstrating that the mechanism controlling the drug release is the Fickian diffusion.