Visible light driven photocatalytic and competent antioxidant properties of phyto-fabricated zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) from Borreria hispida

•Bh-ZnO-NPs exhibit a characteristic UV–visible peak with a bandgap energy of 3.45 eV at 304 nm.•EDS studies confirmed that Bh-ZnO-NPs are 98.23% pure ZnO, based on electron microscope studies.•IUPAC classification type - IV isotherm curve with surface roughness (Ra) value of 6.25 nm and 11.681 m2 g−1.•ZnO nanoparticles exhibited strong antioxidant properties with an IC50 between 0.6 to 0.8 mg mL−1 among the different tests evaluated.•In addition, Bh-ZnO-NPs showed 94.22% effective photocatalytic activity under solar irradiation at a catalyst dosage of 1 g/L.