Musa acuminata peel extract mediated eco-friendly synthesis of solar light-active ZnO nanosponge for enhanced dyeing wastewater degradation

¹ Department of Petrochemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Green Technology, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Universiti, Bandar Barat, 31900 Kampar, Perak, Malaysia
² Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Green Technology, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Universiti, Bandar Barat, 31900 Kampar, Perak, Malaysia
³ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Guilin University of Technology, Guilin 541004, China

^* Corresponding author: sinjc@utar.edu.my

Abstract

ZnO nanosponge was synthesized for the first time via a green method using Musa acuminata peel extract. The X-ray diffraction, Raman, energy dispersive X-ray and fourier-transform infrared analyses demonstrated that the synthesized sample was well crystallized and possessed hexagonal wurtzite pure ZnO. The field-emission scanning electron microscopy observation revealed that the ZnO nanosponge was assembled by aggregated spherical particles with sizes of 30-128 nm. Under simulated solar light irradiation, the ZnO nanosponge acted as an excellent photocatalyst for methylene blue and rhodamine B mixtures degradation compared to commercially available TiO2-P25. The enhanced photocatalytic activities of ZnO sample can be attributed to the high generation of hydroxyl radicals as a result of its unique sponge-like porous structure with large surface area. Furthermore, the ZnO nanosponge can be used effectively on the photodegradation of real textile dye wastewater. These characteristics showed that the biosynthesized ZnO nanosponge can be employed as a photocatalyst for environmental remediation.