Degradation of Methylene Blue Dye Under Sunlight with Copper Oxide Nanoparticles Synthesized from Rudraksha Leaves Extract

Copper oxide nanoparticles (NPs) with a typical crystallite size of 14 nm were synthesized through a straightforward green method involving Rudraksha extract. The green synthesized CuO NPs were characterized by the X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) method. The photocatalytic properties of the samples were studied for the degradation of Methylene Blue (MB) dye under sunlight and UV light. The final degradation achieved was around 70% in 180 min, with a rate degradation of 6.4 × 10 −3 min −1 under Sunlight. The noted degradation can be linked to the photosensitization mechanism. The study concluded that the Rudraksha extract effectively functions both as a reducing and a capping agent, facilitating the synthesis of nanoparticles.