Biosynthesis of NiO Nanoparticles Using Soursop (Annona muricata L.) Fruit Peel Green Waste and Their Photocatalytic Performance on Crystal Violet Dye

Abstract

A simple, inexpensive, and eco-friendly route has been demonstrated for synthesizing spherical NiO nanoparticles (NiO NPs) with a size range between 20 and 90 nm using aqueous extract of soursop (Annona muricata L.) fruit peel green waste which plays the role of reducing and stabilizing agent during the synthesis. The formation, morphology, structure and other physicochemical properties of the resulting NiO NPs were characterized by various experimental techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis, Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The photocatalytic performance of the prepared NiO NPs was assessed toward the photodegradation of crystal violet (CV) dye as a model pollutant under sunlight illumination. The measurement of chemical oxygen demand (COD) values verified the degree mineralization of CV dye. The results show that nearly 99.0% of CV pollutant was photodegraded at 105 min of illumination, making it a promising candidate for wastewater treatment.