Bionanomining: bioengineered CuO nanoparticles from mining and organic waste for photo-catalytic dye degradation.

Abstract

The novel bioengineered CuO nanoparticles were successfully synthesized directly using green chemistry, the nontoxic and renewable aqueous extract of waste papaya peel (Carica papaya) as a precursor. The XRD analysis indicated a monoclinic phase of CuO nanoparticles and a size of 20nm, and the optical absorption analysis showed a peak in the 264nm range. In TEM, the morphology of the NPs was observed to be almost spherical with a particle size of 15nm. The CuO nanoparticles showed good efficiency in the degradation of methylene, obtaining up to 50% in 40min using 6mg in 60ml of MB at 10mg/L. The novel presented in this work derives from using rock minerals, from which we have directly obtained copper salt and copper oxide nanoparticles. This process not only utilizes ecological green chemistry but also offers an economic advantage by directly producing nanoparticles from the mineral instead of purchasing costly pure chemical reagents and employing novel nanomaterials to purify wastewater.