Green mediated synthesis of zinc oxide nanoparticles for the photocatalytic degradation of Rose Bengal dye

Abstract

Zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles were synthesised by a simple method using leaf extract of jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus). The phytochemicals present in the leaf act as stabilising agents. The green synthesised ZnO nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction (PXRD), Scanning Electron microscopy (FESEM), Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). XRD pattern confirmed the formation of crystalline ZnO nanoparticles. The SEM images showed porous, sponge-like agglomerated structures. TEM analysis showed the ZnO nanoparticles formed to have hexagonal wurtzite structure and the particles ranging between 15 and 25nm. The green synthesised ZnO nanoparticles exhibited excellent photodegradation efficiency (>80%, 0.24g/L, 1h) against Rose Bengal dye, a main water-pollutant released by the textile industries. The characterisation results confirmed that the ZnO nanoparticles can be efficiently synthesised using jackfruit leaf extract as stabiliser and the photodegradation results proved the efficiency of the green synthesised ZnO nanoparticles for the degradation of Rose Bengal dye.