Aloe leaf extract and microwave assisted green synthesis of gold nanoparticles and its catalytic activity on reductive degradation of methyl red

Abstract

Gold nanoparticles were synthesized by adapting an ecofriendly green method using aloe leaf extract. Aloe leaf extract acts both as stabilizing as well as reducing agent. The microwave method was adopted to prepare gold nanoparticles (GNPs). The formation of GNPs was observed using Ultraviolet surface plasmon resonance (UV-SPR) analysis. Morphology and characterization of GNPs were done by using Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and Energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDAX) techniques. FESEM and HRTEM analysis showed that the morphology of the obtained GNPs was polygon-shaped. Crystalline nature was studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. By applying the Scherrer formula, the average size of the GNPS was estimated to be 6±1nm. The catalytic activity of the prepared nanoparticles was studied by taking methyl red reduction as a model reaction. UV-VIS spectroscopy was used to follow the reaction by observing a change in absorbance with respect to time. The reaction is monitored under pseudo first order kinetics.