Photocatalytic Degradation of Methylene Blue Dye with Green Synthesized Maghemite Nanoparticles Using Aqueous Extract of Brassica Tournefortii Leaves

Abstract

Water pollution has been a major concern for environmentalists worldwide, especially pollution by organic dyes, because dyes are harmful to the environment and ultimately human health. In the present study, Brassica tournefortii was first used as a reducing and stabilizing agent via a green approach for the synthesis of maghemite nanoparticles (γ-Fe2O3NPs) and evaluated their significant methylene blue dye photocatalytic degradation. The synthesized γ-Fe2O3NPs were characterized using UV-Vis, FT-IR, XRD, and SEM techniques. According to UV-Vis spectra, the SPR band at 442 nm with a band gap energy of about 2.65 eV, as well as the surface functional groups of biomolecules, were identified by FT-IR. The XRD confirmed the cubic crystalline structure of γ-Fe2O3NPs with a crystallite size of 13.85 nm. While SEM revealed spherical and uniform morphology. The synthesized γ-Fe2O3NPs exhibited potential photocatalytic efficiency by degrading 80.12 % of a 10 ppm Methylene blue (MB) dye solution within 90 min under sunlight irradiation, following pseudo second-order kinetic. The presented results revealed that the γ-Fe2O3NPs are an attractive photocatalyst for developing effective water purification for organic dyes.