Piper chaba leaf extract assisted synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles as photocatalyst for the degradation organic dye

In the present study, an environmentally friendly synthetic method for producing zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnONPs) was developed utilizing peel extract of Piper Chaba leaf a plant that grows abundantly and is readily available in Bangladesh at Sylhet division. Visual inspection, UV-visible spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) were used to characterize the produced ZnONPs. Absorption maxima in the UV-visible absorption spectra at 384 nm indicated the formation of ZnONPs. FTIR analysis also confirmed the formation of ZnONPs by showing a strong signal for Zn-O bond stretching at 460 cm^-1 in the FTIR spectrum. XRD analysis further confirmed the formation of pure ZnONPs of hexagonal wurtzite phase having an average crystallite size of 23 nm. SEM analysis revealed that the particles were polydispersed and almost spherical. The average particle size was also calculated from SEM images and found to be about 28 nm and consistent with XRD measurement. EDX analysis confirmed the presence of Zn and O and the elemental composition was 41% and 28%, respectively, consistent with the literature. In addition, the obtained ZnONPs were employed for the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB) as a model dye under sunlight as the light source and it was observed that obtained ZnONPs showed excellent photocatalytic activity by degrading about 95% of MB within 90 min. This process could be an alternative to the conventional chemical method for the large-scale production of ZnONPs. The obtained nanoparticles could be used as promising photocatalysts for the degradation of organic dye in wastewater treatment.

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