Photocatalytic degradation of toxic organic dye (Methylene blue) using ZnO nanoparticles synthesized with petals extract of Rosa rubiginosa plant

Nowadays, the photocatalytic degradation of toxic organic dyes using metal oxide semiconductors is an environmentally friendly approach. Herein, we have synthesized ZnO nanoparticles using different volumes of 10% Rosa rubiginosa (Rose) flower extract. 5 mL and 10 mL of Rosa Rubiginosa flower extract were used for the synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles named R5 and R10 respectively. Synthesized R5 and R10 nanoparticles were characterized using several advanced techniques such as powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Photoluminescence (PL) and UV–visible spectroscopy. These advanced techniques confirm the successful synthesis of ZnO nanoparticles. Methylene blue (MB) dye was chosen for the comparative photocatalytic study of R5 and R10 nanoparticles under sunlight irradiation. The results exhibit that photodegradation efficiencies of R5 and R10 are 95.57% and 99.27% respectively against methylene blue (MB) within 240 min of sunlight irradiation. Both R5 and R10 nanoparticles show good reusability up to three cycles for photocatalytic degradation of MB dyes. Photoelectrochemical studies such as photocurrent and Mott-Schottky plots were carried out on synthesized R5 and R10 nanoparticles for a better understanding of their photocatalytic behavior.