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Biogenic synthesis of Azadirachta indica-mediated zirconium oxide nanoparticles: photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and antimicrobial activity

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Abstract

In this work, semiconductor oxide nanoparticles were prepared by adopting a biogenic method of synthesis followed by calcination for the photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue (MB). Leaf extract of Azadirachita indica was utilized as a reducing and stabilizing agent for the synthesis of zirconia nanoparticles (AI-ZrNPs). The surface plasmon resonance peak was found at 275 nm, and the band gap calculated was around 3.004 eV. The prepared catalyst exhibited a crystalline structure with a particle size of ~ 12 nm as confirmed by X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The microscopic analysis further confirms the formation of spherical-shaped grains of AI-ZrNPs. The photocatalytic activity was investigated under the UV-A lamp which exhibited nearly 99.6% degradation at optimum conditions and followed pseudo-first-order kinetics (R2 = 0.9854). To evaluate the effectiveness of AI-ZrNPs against gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli, a bacterial susceptibility test based on disc diffusion method was performed. Lastly, based on the identification of the formed by-products of MB degradation, a plausible degradation pathway was proposed. The findings of this study proved to be quite promising to accept AI-ZrNPs as a potential catalyst for photocatalysis.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, India, for providing research and financial facilities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, 826004, India

    Aakansha Singh, Vijay Laxmi Mohanta, Sumit Dahiya & Brijesh Kumar Mishra

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Contributions

Aakansha Singh: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, writing—original draft preparation. Vijay Laxmi Mohanta: writing—review and editing, data curation. Sumit Dahiya: software and validation. Brijesh Kumar Mishra: supervision and conceptualization.

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Correspondence to Brijesh Kumar Mishra.

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Highlights

1. AI-ZrNPs were synthesized using leaf extracts of neem leaves.

2. The synthesized NPs show 99.6% degradation of methylene blue under UV-A light.

3. The formed by-products analyzed after photocatalysis were non-toxic in nature.

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Singh, A., Mohanta, V.L., Dahiya, S. et al. Biogenic synthesis of Azadirachta indica-mediated zirconium oxide nanoparticles: photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue and antimicrobial activity. Biomass Conv. Bioref. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13399-024-05732-w

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