Biosynthesis of Dy2O3 nanoparticles using Piper Retrofractum Vahl extract: Optical, structural, morphological, and photocatalytic properties

Abstract

Biosynthesis of nanoparticles has attracted much attention due to its environmental safety, cost-effectiveness, and straightforward fabrication. For the first time, Piper Retrofractum Vahl Fruits Extract (PRFE) was used as a low-cost natural hydrolyzing agent in the synthesis of Dysprosium Oxide (Dy2O3). The optical, structural, morphological, and photocatalytic properties of Dy2O3 nanoparticles were observed by various characterization methods such as FT-IR, XRD, UV-Vis DRS, FESEM-EDS, and TEM. The absorption bands of the C-N and N-H functional groups were revealed by FT-IR analysis. Alkaloid compounds of PRFE are assigned to the hydrolyzing agents. Furthermore, the XRD and EDS analyses confirmed the presence of Dy2O3 without impurities. Morphological characterization by FESEM showed that Dy2O3 nanoparticles were in a spherical shape, while the particles size was obtained to be 20-30 nm validated by TEM measurement. The optical bandgap of Dy2O3 was 4.8 eV, which is active in the UV region. Dy2O3 nanoparticles showed a remarkable photocatalytic activity, which has an efficiency of 92.76%, with a small amount of catalyst loading for malachite green degradation under UV light irradiation within 120 min. The trapping experiment proved that h+ is the predominant reactive species in the photodegradation reaction. Ultimatelly, this work presents a superior biosynthesized Dy2O3 photocatalyst, which demonstrates high stability in four consecutive cycles.