Mangifera indica mediated biogenic synthesis of undoped and doped TiO2 nanoparticles and evaluation of their structural, morphological, and photocatalytic properties

Abstract

Biogenic synthesis is a growing trend to synthesize various nanoparticles. In this study, pristine and doped TiO2 nanoparticles were synthesized utilizing mango leaf extract via a cost effective and eco-friendly biogenic route. As a precursor, titanium isopropoxide (TTIP) was used. The transition metals, Cu and Ag, were added as dopant materials in various concentration levels of 0.5%, 1%, 1.5%, and 2%. To assess the morphological, structural, photocatalytic properties of the prepared samples, several characterization techniques such as SEM, EDX, XRD, UV–Vis were implemented. Both Cu- and Ag doped TiO2 samples showed a gradual decline in band gap in comparison to undoped TiO2 with the increasing doping percentage. The result of the photo-degradation of methylene blue (MB) demonstrated that doping of TiO2, whether with Cu/Ag, greatly enhances the photocatalytic performance which is attribute to the “Red-Shift” phenomena along with the reduced photogenerated electron-hole recombination rate. Results obtained suggest that TiO2 nanoparticles (both undoped and doped) synthesized through a greener and more cost-effective approach may have a promising future for water purification and dye remediation owing to better photo-degradation.