Green synthesis of copper nanoparticles using extract of Dicliptera Roxburghiana, their characterization and photocatalytic activity against methylene blue degradation

Abstract

In the modern scientific era, nanotechnology isone of the burning field for researchers and scientists because of their applications in a number of areas. The synthesis of nanoparticles (particles having size 1-100 nm) is also the centre of attraction towards researchers due to its unique chemical and physical properties and wide applications. Nanoparticles can be synthesized by physical, chemical and biological processes also known as green synthesis. Among all of the methods of nanoparticles synthesis, green synthesis is non-toxic, economic and eco-friendly and also applicable to in numerous fields such as medicinal chemistry, catalysis etc. In the present study, we investigate the potential of the extract of plant dicliptera roxburghiana towards the synthesis of copper nanoparticles, for which a fixed ratio of plant extract and CuSO4 solution was used. The synthesis of Cu-NPs was initially confirmed by colour change of CuSO4 from blue to brownish green. The synthesized copper nanoparticles were studied and characterized by XRD, FT-IR and UV-Visible spectroscopy and later on subjected towards the photocatalytic degradation of organic dye methylene blue. Surface Plasmon Resonance of Cu-NPs was found to be at 578 nm using UV-Visible analysis and characteristic peak at 517-519 nm of copper nanoparticles were given by FT-IR spectrometer while XRD analysis showed the spherical shape of Cu-NPs having size of 58 nm. The photocatalytic activity of Cu-NPs was also studied in a comparison manner between the Cu-NPs in dried form and Cu-NPs in plant extract solution against methylene blue under sunlight.