Photocatalytic efficacy of Magnesium oxide nanoparticles in dye Degradation: A sustainable One-Pot synthesis utilizing Syzygium samarangense L. Extract

Abstract

Efficient degradation of organic pollutants is a pressing environmental concern. In our current study, we propose a novel photocatalytic solution to address this challenge, harnessing the potential of advanced nanomaterials to enhance pollutant removal rates. The present work reports the synthesis of Magnesium Oxide (MgO) nanoparticles via a green technique using an aqueous extract of Syzygium samarangense leaves. The role of reducing and capping agents in the process was owned by Syzygium samarangense leaf extract. The green synthesized MgO nanoparticles (MgO NPs) were characterized for their structural, morphology, and optical details using various analytical techniques. The formation of metal oxide in the sample was evident from a strong absorbance peak at 264 nm, and the calculated Eg value of 5.5 eV. The high crystallinity of the prepared NPs was authenticated by PXRD analysis with a cubic structure of calculated average crystalline size of 18 nm. Both leaf extract and the prepared MgO NPs were subjected to FTIR analysis, and the action of phytochemicals was affirmed by the absence of major band in MgO NPs spectrum. Precursor and agglomerated morphology were confirmed on SEM analysis. The prepared sample were utilized to perform degradation of Methylene blue (MB) and congo red (CR) dyes through photocatalysis under UV irradiation. The results affirm the decrement in absorbance with the increment of irradiation time. The affirmed decrement was put forth to study the kinetics of the degradation reaction, and the results was best aligned with 1st kinetic equation with R2 value of 0.9850 and 0.976 for MB and CR dye, respectively. The same results were utilized to study the effect of dye dosage, catalyst concentration, pH level, and presence of different scavengers. All the results found compelling and suggest the prepared MgO NPs as a potent candidate for photocatalytic dye degradation of MB and CR.