Photocatalytic degradation of toxic basic blue 41 and reactive orange M2R dyes using green synthesized zinc oxide nanoparticles

Abstract

Zinc oxide nanoparticles (Cm-ZnO NPs) were synthesized to eliminate organic dye pollutants from textile dye effluents. The present study reports Cucumis maderaspatanus L. leaves utilized as a green reducing/stabilizing agent for Cm-ZnO NPs synthesis. The nanoparticles underwent thorough analysis using techniques such as XRD, UV–vis, TEM, and FT-IR. Photocatalytic degradation of toxic basic blue 41 (BB41) and reactive orange M2R (ROM2R) dyes using Cm-ZnO NPs, showed a degradation rate of 97.69 % and 94.30 % respectively under optimized conditions. The kinetics of photocatalytic degradation of BB41 and ROM2R dyes followed first-order kinetics. The scavenger studies were conducted to identify the photogenerated reactive species involved in dye degradation. The singlet oxygen (1O2) and hydroxyl radicals (●OH) are mainly responsible for the degradation of BB41 and ROM2R dye respectively. LC-MS analysis was used to identify the photocatalytic degraded products, and ECOSAR software assessed their toxicity. The recyclability was performed up to four cycles and the stability of Cm-ZnO NPs was confirmed by XRD analysis. Thus, the as-synthesized Cm-ZnO NPs are suitable for industrial textile wastewater treatment.