Determination of antioxidant and catalytic activity of bio-synthesized Ag-MgO nanocomposite from peels extract of Citrus aurantium in the rapid treatment of wastewater management

Abstract

Fig.2. Schematic illustration for the synthesis of Ag-MgO nanocomposite. • Nanocomposite, reduction catalyst, antioxidant, Citrus aurantium. In this research article, the bio-synthesis of Ag-MgO NCs were synthesized by employing peels extract as a renewable, mild reducing, and stabilizing agent. Bio-synthesized Ag-MgO NCs was characterized by different spectroscopic methods like UV–visible spectroscopy, XRD, SEM, EDX, and TEM. In UV spectra of the nanocomposite, two peaks were obtained at 342 nm and 290 nm for Ag and MgO respectively, during the synthesis of Ag-MgO nanocomposite. The characteristic peak for Ag shows a hypsochromic (blue) shift from 465 nm to 342 nm. XRD results show that the synthesized NCs are cubic in nature considering both Ag-NPs and MgO-NPs and the average crystal size was found to be 16.40 nm. SEM images confirm that the synthesized Ag-MgO NCs are poly dispersive and crystalline in nature. The catalytic activity of Ag-MgO NCs was examined by reduction of toxic dyes such as methylene blue (MB), Rose Bengal (RB), and acridine orange (AO) by using NaBH 4 as a reducing agent and NCs as a catalyst. The synthesized Ag-MgO NCs exhibits enhanced catalytic reduction of dyes up to 89.77%, 83.38%, and 87.34% in 7 min, 4 min, and 5 min for MB, RB, and AO respectively. Antioxidant activity of synthesized Ag-MgO nanocomposite was determined by H 2 O 2 free radical scavenging activity, and DPPH free radical scavenging activity. On the premises of our findings the synthesized NCs can be considered as excellent catalyst for degradation of mentioned toxic dyes, Further, these Ag-MgO can act as an efficient antioxidant based on their activity comparable to butylated hydroxy toluene (BHT).